A Montreal family is trying to pick up the pieces after a suspicious fire destroyed their restaurant.
Arson is suspected, and the three immigrant brothers who own it can’t understand why someone would target their business leaving them with nothing but a pile of ash.
“We are very angry, because we are shocked and we don’t know what we’re going to do,” said 38-year-old Berat Saymadi, co-owner of Pizza Mozza in Oka, west of Montreal.
The three Kurdish brothers, originally from Turkey, both immigrated to Canada in the past two decades.
After years of working in Montreal restaurants, in 2022 they decided to open their own place in Oka along with a third brother.
“We were working three brothers together 12 hours or 13 hours a day, every day, seven days a week. It was hard,” said 44-year-old Sedat Saymadi.
It took time, but they built up a good reputation and scored hundreds of glowing online reviews.
Their wives and children would come from Montreal to spend time with them. Sedat even got married at the restaurant.
“We didn’t spend time with our families a lot. We spent time in here. We put all our effort in this restaurant,” said Sedat.
On Labour Day weekend, their countless hours of hard work went up in flames.
The first overnight fire on their front steps on Aug. 31st was luckily discovered by a neighbour and put out. On Sept. 3, the restaurant burnt to the ground. Quebec Provincial Police (SQ) received a 911 call around 1:30 a.m. for a suspicious fire. Firefighters put it out, but the building is a total loss.
“I was shocked. We were all shocked,” said Sedat.
“It’s really a tragedy,” said Berat.
Police say fire investigators analyzed the site. The Saymadis say officers told them an accelerant was found. Their security cameras cameras didn’t catch anyone setting a fire, but they lost some footage that was on a hard drive inside.
They say they have no enemies and can’t understand why this happened to them.
“We have super good relationship with everyone,” said Sedat.
In the 90 minutes Global News spent in front of the fire-ravaged wreck with the brothers on Monday, several passersby stopped to offer support and sympathy.
“I just can’t believe it. They’re so nice,” said Carole Ranger.
She and others expressed how kind and welcoming the brothers are, and how good the food is.
The brothers say they’ve also had an outpouring of love from the neighbouring Kanesetake Mohawk territory.
“I didn’t cry, but I saw many people cry here,” said Sadat.
They initially thought it might be an anti-immigrant attack but say they don’t want to believe that could be true.
“It might be a competitor, I don’t know. Maybe somebody didn’t like us,” said Sedat.
They’re waiting to hear how much of their losses will be covered by insurance. They’re hoping to start fresh at a different location nearby.
A friend has started a GoFundMe to help them.
SQ Sgt. Marc Tessier told Global News the investigation is ongoing. At this stage there are no suspects.