A quiet Sunday morning could have turned out a lot worse for a Kitchener restaurant and the families living above it, had it not been for the quick action of a driver passing by who spotted an attempted arson and called 911.
Police said they received reports of property damage caused by a fire at 1472 King Street E. in Kitchener at about 6 a.m. on Sunday. A 39-year-old Kitchener male was charged with three counts of arson and one count of possession of incendiary material. He was held for a bail hearing.
For owner Samrat Patel, who runs The Biryani Barrel with his wife, the news came as a shock. He said he only learned about the incident hours later, when his landlord — who lives upstairs — called him.
“The police told the landlord, and she called me to say there was a fire on the patio,” Patel said. “A guy tried to set fire at around 5:45 in the morning. He burned some of his own clothes, too”
Patel said the restaurant’s security footage showed the man hanging around the property for nearly two hours before the fire was set.
“He was just roaming around since 4:30,” Patel said. “He sat in the patio, took his clothes off, then put them back on. He then went to the other end and tried to start the fire. From the video, I don’t think it was targeted. He didn’t look in the right state of mind.”
The fire damaged parts of the restaurant’s patio but Patel said it could have been a lot worse.
He credits a driver who happened to be passing by with saving both his business and the people who live above it.
“There was a guy, he saw the fire and immediately called the fire department,” Patel said. “If the fire spread, I can’t even imagine how much of a damage it could have caused.”
The building has four apartments upstairs, and Patel said at least two are occupied.
“That was the main concern for the landlord,” he said. “If the fire spread, it could have been more harmful for the people upstairs. Business can be covered by insurance, but lives are more important.”
Later that morning, Patel turned to social media and shared what happened on a local Facebook group. The post quickly spread, gathering hundreds of interactions with community members expressing relief and support. In the post, Patel also thanked the unknown driver and offered them a free dinner if they come forward.
“We would love to thank them personally with a dinner on the house — if you are that person, please reach out to us,” he posted.
Patel and his wife are newcomers to Canada. They opened The Biryani Barrel earlier this year in the former fish and chips restaurant at the corner of King Street East and Jackson Avenue.
“We love biryani,” Patel said. “We cook it at least twice a week. But we couldn’t find our taste here — the way we used to get it back in India. So we thought, why don’t we just start making it ourselves?”
It was not an easy start. Patel said the pandemic slowed down everything when he first arrived, from paperwork to job opportunities. The restaurant has also been costly to run, and he and his wife are still working to make ends meet.
“This could have been a huge disaster,” Patel said. “Instead, we are safe, and the restaurant is still here, because one person decided to stop and make a call.”