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Rebounding from the pandemic and Masonville-area construction woes, a celebrated Lebanese restaurant in London’s north end is opening a White Oaks Mall location as it eyes future growth in the city and beyond.
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Yasmine’s Authentic Lebanese Cuisine, a sit-down Masonville neighbourhood eatery that’s attracted a dedicated following since it opened in 2019, is launching a fast-casual outpost, Yasmine’s Express, early in the new year.
“We’ve always wanted another location,” said Bill Chehade, who owns Yasmine’s with his wife Farah.
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“The aim has always been healthy fast food, good quality fast food. Not all fast food has to be grabbed from the freezer and thrown in the fryer. We’re making pretty much everything fresh.”
The sign at the White Oaks Mall food court location is up and most of the fixtures are in place, Chehade said. The to-go eatery is awaiting final permits and inspections from London city hall and is expecting to open in the first week of January.
The fare at Yasmine’s Express will use the same spices and recipes as its sit-down counterpart, but will have different items that can be eaten on the go, Chehade said.
“We’ll be doing fresh baguette sandwiches, which we don’t offer at Yasmine’s. We’ll be doing Lebanese burgers as well as our typical chicken and beef shawarma, falafel and beef kebab sandwiches,” he said.
“We’re adding a few things that are not strictly Lebanese. We’re leaving room to do broadly Mediterranean dishes.”
Chehade and his wife have been wanting to grow the business for several years and are happy to finally reach this stage, he said.
The pandemic hit less than a year after Yasmine’s opened at Richmond Street and Fanshawe Park Road, forcing the new business to pivot amid rolling lockdowns and public health restrictions. Major road construction in the Masonville area in recent years has also been a challenge, Chehade said.
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The cost of running a sit-down restaurant, and the space and staff required, prompted the couple to explore an express version of Yasmine’s when they were making expansion plans.
“Express locations are easier to manage. The plan is to hopefully scale up and make three express locations in London,” Chehade said.
Yasmine’s is eyeing future express locations in the south end of London, potentially near the rapidly growing Southdale Road and Colonel Talbot Road area, and near Wonderland Road North and Oxford Street, Chehade said.
The restaurant has long-term aspirations of expanding into the Greater Toronto Area, he said, using the London model as a jumping off point.
“We’d potentially have a sit-down location that supports the express locations. That will help maintain consistency with the food, reduce costs and streamline the operation,” Chehade said.
jbieman@postmedia.com
@JenatLFPress
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