Over lunch at La Brezza Ristorante in Calgary's Italian community of Bridgeland, there is hand-wringing amongst the patrons over Ralph Klein's budget, the sponsorship scandal, the price of crude and the almighty dollar.

Then, Marco Abdi, a ray of sunshine on an overcast day, merrily waltzes into the room, sporting his trademark 100-watt smile and joking that he is from Moose Jaw, Sask., and all seems well again in the world.

If you're still in hand-wringing mode after meeting the loquacious proprietor, who in fact hails from dirt-poor roots in Somalia in East Africa, he will show you pictures of his three children, who also sport 100-watt smiles. And you will no doubt throw up your arms and surrender to his offer of a glass of wine.

Even a delivery driver who arrives grim-faced to inform Abdi that he would be billed for an extra delivery surrenders a smile when Abdi cheerfully cracks, "Merry Christmas!" For 20 years, Abdi has been sharing his wonderful sense of humour, refreshing life perspective and tantalizing bruschetta with his La Brezza patrons. Even one-time dinner guest Leslie Nielsen thought he was a hoot.

Dave Olecko, Business Edge
Restaurateur Marco Abdi came from humble beginnings but found a winning recipe in Calgary's Bridgeland district.

And, if Abdi is feeling morose, he only needs to gaze out the east window of La Brezza at the building across the street that serves as a poignant reminder of his humble roots. You see, La Brezza was built on Abdi's $800-a-month janitorial and caretaker job across the street at the Bridgeland Professional Centre.

1. Are you always this happy in your work?

"I love what I do. Every day is Christmas. It's my background. I was born in Somalia in East Africa. My father said, 'You are born with nothing, you die with nothing and in between it's Christmas.' I never forget that. For us, it's very important to treat people with dignity and that's how I created my business. You show your customers respect, you show them you care and you never sell your dignity."

2. What did you dream about as a youngster growing up in Somalia?

"To have a restaurant. Honest. When I was a kid, I saw people who owned restaurants and it was a big deal. I said, 'Wow!' When you want something like that, you do whatever you can to get it. We didn't have money in our family. We had nothing. Nothing. But we had a lot of love. The whole village (Bondere) knew my father. My father wanted me to have a better education, so, when I was 14, I went to Italy to finish high school. My father was able to do that for me because working as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Somalia, he knew people. He had a good name and everyone helped everybody else."

3. What was your first job?

"I worked in a restaurant in Italy as a dishwasher and cleaner. It was very tough. But I remembered what my father told me. He said, 'Don't ask how much you get paid, show them who you are.' That was the school I came from. When you grow up in poverty, you appreciate everything."

4. How much money did you have in your pocket when you arrived in Canada in 1977?

"I had $7 or $8. All the money I made in Italy I used to send to my mother in Somalia. Our first priorities in our culture were to help your parents and brothers and sisters.

When I arrived in Calgary, I started working across the street (he points out the window to the Bridgeland Professional Centre). I was making $800 a month and, coming from Africa, I thought, 'Wow!' I was also taking English language courses at SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology)."

5. How did you start this restaurant business?

"Well, the owner (John Cutrozzala) of the building where I worked also owned this house (La Brezza is a converted house). He said to me, 'Marco, start the restaurant with your own money and I can help you by giving you free rent for the house for six months.' " 6. What do you remember about the first day the restaurant opened?

"It was a challenge. I was never scared of working. I love work. We had three or four tables (of customers) from the building across the street. They came in because they wanted to see the house. They never saw a restaurant in a house before and we were one of the first to put a restaurant in a house in Calgary.

But slowly, by word of mouth, the business grew."

7. Has word of mouth been the key to marketing the restaurant?

"You can advertise, but it's important how you treat people. If they enjoy themselves, they're going to talk about it. You can't buy that kind of advertising."

8. You like to mingle with your customers and make them feel at home. Is that a big part of your success?

"Sure it is. But what's important is that I have nothing to hide (laughing). I'm happy to be here. Most people in this business are thinking, 'How much money am I going to make today?' No, no. That's not the way I think. My attitude is different. I'm thinking, 'How many people am I going to meet today?' I want to be their friend. I talk to everybody that comes in here. A lot of people are too serious. Life is difficult and people want to make it more difficult."

9. Has business been pretty steady throughout your 20 years?

"Yes, it's been good. We had a decline in traffic when the hospital (General Hospital across the street) was closed. But we still have customers from the hospital who continued to be our customers and some of them are still our customers today."

10. Are you a millionaire yet?

"No, but I'm close. I never look at money. My legacy is to do something good for people who don't have (anything). That's my goal. We have a fundraiser at the restaurant every year which I used to do with Ed Whalen (the late Calgary sportscaster and community booster). Ed was the best. He was amazing. He had a big heart. He loved you with no conditions. Those are the people who I admire. They're the people that make it happen."

11. When you hear about scandals in business and government, what do you think about?

"They worship (the) dollar. In Africa, when you go dancing with a beautiful girl, she will say to you, 'What's your name?' If you (dance) in Calgary with a beautiful woman, she says, 'What do you do for a living?' "Where I am from, we love life and we want to do our best to leave a legacy. Some people want to have a big building. I don't want a building. I want to have a friend to have a coffee with. You can keep the building. I don't want it."

12. Have you considered franchising your business?

"(He throws up his arms) No! No! No! If you're not happy with what you have, you're never going to be happy. I have no interest in opening another restaurant. No thank you. I'm enjoying life. I have three beautiful children and a wife (Filomena) and I want to tell them every day, 'Merry Christmas.' If I open up another business, I will have no time. The No. 1 killer, after cancer, is greed. Greed, greed, greed."

13. What is the most important ingredient that makes a restaurateur successful?

"Be yourself. That's it. If you be yourself, people will love you for who you are. It's not about what you want to be. It's about who you are. You come here to have a good time. If you want to be alone, you stay home. If you forget where you came from, you will not be successful in this business. You have to go into the business wanting to do something good, not just make money. My advice is, don't think about money, think about people."

14. What's your second favourite restaurant?

"Actually, I have no second. No, I don't eat out. I never look at other restaurants. They are wonderful but I have my own style and I'm comfortable with that. Nobody's going to be like you."

15. Do you have any other business interests?

"Yes, I am a personal friend of the royal family from the United Arab Emirates (he is their liaison to the Calgary oilpatch). In Calgary, we have the best oil and gas technology. They have their oil, but they don't have the technology that we have here. So, because I can speak Arabic, I make the connections for them so they can learn how to improve their technologies. A friend of mine went to school with (a member of the royal family) and connected me with them. I spend about 10 or 15 hours a week doing that and I work for a commission when they do a deal."

16. Would you like to see your children involved in your business eventually?

"If you love your family, you don't tell them what to do with their lives. You have to give them freedom. I love my wife and I never tell her what to do. Everyone has their own style. I tell my wife, 'Honey, fly.' I let her do whatever she wants to do. She is at home looking after the three children. We were married in 1990.

You know, I met her on bus No. 9 (in Calgary)."

17. Who's your favourite celebrity of those who have dined at La Brezza?

"This man (he points to an autographed photo of Canadian-born actor Leslie Nielsen on a celebrity wall display). He's a very nice man. He is very down to earth. I love people who are humble. I have met so many celebrities, but no one like him. But my best celebrities are my customers. They are so nice."

18. What's your most important life goal beyond business and family?

"I'd like to help people overseas, especially in East Africa and Somalia. In Somalia, they have a long way to go. I'd like to help set up a children's hospital in Somalia. That's my dream. There is no real government in Somalia, so I'm trying to do something through the people I know in the United Arab Emirates. At the end of the day, I'm always thinking how I can help people who don't have the opportunities that we have."

19. If you could snap your fingers and change one thing in the world, what would you do?

"I would take out the greed from the people. I would X-ray all the people and take out the greed."

20. We'd like to book a photo shoot for this story ...

"I have only one request. No black and white. Colour. It has to be in colour."

IN PROFILE: Marco Abdi<.U> n Born/raised/age: Bondere, Somalia (East Africa)/49.

* Career Pursuit: Abdi has owned and operated La Brezza Italian restaurant for the past 20 years in a converted Bridgeland bungalow in Calgary.

* Education: High school.

* Family: Wife Filomena, three children.

* Moonlighting: Abdi dabbles in the oilpatch as a representative of a group of companies operated by the royal family in the United Arabic Emirates.

* Favourite dish: Garlic and olive oil linguini with hot jalapeno peppers.

* Hero: Ed Whalen, the late Calgary sportscaster.

* Favourite celebrity dinner guest: Actor Leslie Nielsen.

* Key fundraiser: La Brezza hosts an annual dinner to raise money for the Alberta Children's Hospital.

* La Brezza location/phone: 990 1st Ave. N.E., T2E 8J3/403-262-6230.

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)