Indian restaurant franchise in northern Ontario gives away free meals every day

A popular Indian restaurant franchise in northeastern Ontario is giving away free meals to anyone in need from October until the end of March.

Amrit Singh, the co-owner of Sukdhev Restaurant in Sudbury, said one tenet of his family's Sikh religion and culture is that they should donate 10 per cent of their income to charitable causes.

Singh said when he came to Canada in 2019, he visited a friend in the town of Cochrane, Alta., who owned a restaurant there.

"I saw he always gave a free meal to all the needy people there," he said.

When Singh and his brother Gurpreet opened the first Sukdhev location in the northern Ontario town of Espanola in 2020, they decided to do the same thing.

Now there are eight Sukhdev locations across the northeast from Sault Ste. Marie to North Bay and all the franchise owners follow the same philosophy.

Singh said they set aside 10 meals a day at each location to give away to people in need, but they often go over that number.

"Every day in our Sudbury location, we give around 20 meals every day for the needy people," he said.

Singh said there are no requirements for people to qualify for a free meal.

"We don't ask any name, we don't ask, like;What's your religion?What's your caste?Why you want [a free meal]?" he said.

"You just have to come in our restaurant and ask, 'I am here for a free meal,' and my server serves this food to you without any question."

He said in some cases, people who needed food one day, later paid it forward and donated $20 for the restaurant to provide other people meals.

When Singh posted about the initiative on Facebook this month, he said the post went viral.

Around 1,100 people shared the post on the first day, and 85,000 people saw it.

Although restaurants often have thin margins, Singh saidthey've made it a priority to give away free meals to those in need every day.

"I believe if everyone wants to do something [for a] good cause they always make a way to do that."