‘Time to retire’: Yafa Café put on sales block

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This article was published 16/02/2024 (948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A prominent local Arabic eatery is up for sale.

Yafa Café’s leadership cites retirement as its main reason for listing 1785 Portage Ave.

Rana Abdulla co-founded the restaurant in 2018.

“My husband is 72,” Abdulla wrote in an email to the Free Press. “Time to retire.”

Yafa Café displays a large Palestinian flag in its Portage Avenue-facing window.

It’s been active in pro-Palestinian advocacy, including selling cookies to raise money for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

The Winnipeg restaurant and its staff have faced threats, vandalism, hate and anti-Palestinian racism over the years, increasing in recent months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Abdulla said.

She shared a memo she had sent to city police in October. Callers had threatened workers over the phone, her email reads.

However, the decision to sell isn’t related to attacks against Palestinian-supporting businesses, Abdulla wrote.

“Yes, it’s been hard,” she said, adding, “We are an unapologetic Palestinian restaurant.

“Despite… all the hardship, we stayed open and did not announce the intention to retire and sell because the community needs us, to continue to rally for Palestine.”

The eatery is a place of solidarity and consolation, a gathering place, Abdulla said. She hopes the buyers will “continue fighting for Palestine” through food, culture, arts and education.

Ramsey Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba, considers Yafa Café’s owners “part of the family.”

“We support each other,” Zeid said. “It doesn’t hurt that the food is also good.”

The business is doing well and is often busy, he added.

“We won’t move to do other business anywhere else in Canada,” Abdulla wrote in her email, adding community support has been “overwhelming and great.”

Nozomi Colyer has been visiting Yafa Café more frequently than her usual “every couple of months” in anticipation of the sale.

“They were one of the gems in the city,” she said. “It’s going to be sad to see them gone.”

Colyer started eating at Yafa Café shortly after it opened. The food, especially the musakhan chicken dish, keeps her coming back.

Fellow customer Anne Schmidt said she appreciates the way people gather and support Palestine at the eatery.

The restaurant is “top notch,” and her favourite for shawarma, she wrote in an Instagram message.

Yafa Café is listed for $1.2 million. The price includes the building, land, equipment and furniture. It has been up for sale for nearly a month.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com