An exciting and tough journey all at the same time.
That's how the owner of India 47 is describing opening a new restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Aujla says he and his partners signed their lease two weeks before restrictions were put in place.
Aujla says it wasn't the grand opening they were hoping for, but despite everything, business has taken off.
He says at first, they were reluctant to open.
"We were getting around that time frame that we had originally planned to open up," says Aujla "We were getting nervous whether to do it or not do it. We had brought staff on, our chefs were from Toronto and from India
Aujla says the past couple of weeks have been very busy.
"The very first day we ran out of food by 7pm," says Aujla. "We opened our doors at 3pm on April 8 and by 7pm we were out of food and we just got overwhelmed by the community."
He says the response from the community has blown them out of the water.
"What we thought would be very very tough has actually turned into a little bit of blessing for us because we're actually starting to get our food out there and we're actually getting time spending individually with our customers as they come in, we can talk to them, get to know them a little bit," says Aujla.
Aujla says the restaurant offers high end Indian food and delivery, take out and curbside pick up are available.
The restaurant is located in the former Webb's Steakhouse at the corner of Lesperance Rd. and E.C. Row.