Matamak provides quality food for students at an affordable price

Matamak is a recently opened restaurant in Westdale that uses a monthly subscription-based system to ensure that they can provide good quality to food while maintaining low prices food

Matamak is a new restaurant that opened in Westdale on Jul. 12, founded by Omar Barakat. It operates on a subscription-based model, where members pay a monthly subscription fee to enjoy the low cost of food at Matamak, starting at $25 per month. 

Barakat grew up in Toronto and worked in IT before getting into entrepreneurship. He previously had a manufacturing business in the United States, but his family has always been involved in the restaurant industry; his younger brother is a chef and has opened several restaurants, inspiring Barakat to eventually start one too. 

Barakat’s restaurant model was inspired by his father's stories about groups in his home country buying large quantities of food and selling it to people at low prices, helping people to save money. Barakat chose to mirror this model but with a membership fee, making it more sustainable to operate. 

The membership fee allows Barakat covers the restaurant’s overhead costs, and in turn allows Matamak to pass on its savings to its customers and eliminate other costs, such as tipping. 

Matamak’s food is all made-to-order, to guarantee the freshness and quality of the food. Barakat emphasized the uniqueness of his restaurant model and its focus on offering good food to customers at a low cost.  

“Regular restaurants, [when] they make a food item, they mark it all the way up and when they charge, they start upselling to make profit [and] they'll switch to ingredients that are inferior. We just make high quality food and we don't have that problem where we have to market all the way up or change to inferior ingredients or whatnot,” said Barakat. 

Although Barakat has engaged in minimal marketing so far, Matamak has been well received by the community so far and many have been pleasantly surprised by their prices. 

"They're just really happy ordering. One customer I remember told me when [she saw] the price of her burger, she thought she had won the lottery,” said Barakat. 

Matamak is also interested in supporting students. on students. They understand that when students enter university, it is one of the first times they are out on their own. Matamak wants this to be an opportunity to provide students with hospitality. 

“When they walk through our door, it's our chance to give them that hospitality, generous and friendly service for visitors and guests when they come in. We want to be able to take care of them [and] not charge them crazy price. So, I want them to what to take away from Matamak [is] that home feeling,” explained Barakat. 

Matamak currently offers a one-week free trial for new members and they accept McMaster University student meal cards.