On Wednesdays they serve Indian and on Thursdays Moroccan. But next week, don't expect to find the three Charania sisters and their 72-year-old mother, Roshan, serving specialties at the family run bistro on the second floor of the EDC tower.
The Export Development Canada building, one of 29 targeted by Take the Capital protesters, will be closed. Most targeted buildings in the core and Byward Market will just increase security and limit access to employees.
EDC employees are asked to work from home, so it is expected to be close to business as usual. However, small businesses, especially retail shops and restaurants, depend on customer visits and with protests expected to erupt Saturday and later next week, customers are expected to take flight, leaving small business owners like the Charania sisters wondering if they will be compensated for losses.
The Charanias won't be able to recoup the almost $2,000 they pay in rent each week and will lose up to four days worth of sales at more than $1,000 per day.
In addition, their five employees will have to be laid off for the duration of the closure.
"There is no compensation anywhere," says Annar Charania. "The landlord says he's not responsible. EDC says that they're not compensating. We really have nowhere to go. I think at least the government should have something in place to compensate us."
Although the Department of Public Works has recently hatched a compensation plan for Alberta businesses expecting to experience financial losses during next week's G8 Summit, Ottawa businesses cannot expect a similar plan to apply here as no official events of the summit will take place here -- just unofficial protests.
And while Quebec City businesses recouped losses caused by last year's Summit of the Americas, Ottawa businesses are still waiting for the Finance Department to deliver on their promise to compensate for losses experienced at last November's meetings of G20 finance ministers.
For Ottawa business owners, the best-case scenario next week is that they only lose some of their regular business. The worst case would be major damage, or even looting if protests get out of hand.
More Flowers has been in the Byward Market for 25 years and one of its owners, Milos Kralik, only hopes protesters will remain peaceful.
The shop is located on Saturday's march route and is just blocks from U.S. Embassy and Major's Hill Park, both of which are on the target list.
"Business will slow down (during the protests) and there's nothing I can do to dissuade the crowds other than to hope there is no destruction of property," said Mr. Kralik.
"I do believe that regardless of what people may think, they have no right to destroy property that does not belong to them.
"I just run a regular business here and I just hope that everything stays peaceful." Up the street, Harvey Farovitch operates Just Bargains and he knows full well the impact of protests.
During November's G20 protests, he was operating out of a Sparks Street Mall location when demonstrations got disorderly, but he credits police with protecting the mall and keeping protesters to the periphery.
He is unsure of what to expect in his new location.
"Saturday might be our best day in the summer months," said Mr. Farovitch. "There's just no way I can afford to close the doors.
Miss Charania, whose family fled Idi Amin's Uganda in 1972, agrees.
"When we came here, we came with nothing. I came from war. I came from poverty," she said. "I'm not against poverty eradication, but what (the protesters) are doing undermines everyone's (anti-poverty) efforts."
A special police team will be talking to businesspeople about what to expect.
But Ottawa police warn it's unlikely they will be able to reach all businesses before the protests and encourage concerned community members to attend a public meeting next week. It will be held Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. at the Assembly Hall, Lansdowne Park.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.