The owner of a new My-Thai Restaurant downtown did his homework before setting up shop in Guelph.
“I know that Guelph has one or two real Thai restaurants,” said Natthawut Matkhammi. “For most of the others, the menus are mixed with Vietnamese or Chinese. I hope the residents of Guelph will be happy and enjoy to have authentic Thai downtown.”
He plans to staff the kitchen with expert chefs and teach new employees the art of making authentic Thai cuisine, but the attention to detail extends beyond the menu.
“I am trying to bring real Thai culture even to the concept of service,” he said. “We hire the local people but I already prepared the Thai uniform for them. We try to model our service from Thai hotels. Let the customer feel like, wow, they are different from the others.”
Matkhammi was born in Thailand and gained valuable experience working in the international luxury hotel business before coming to Canada.
“I studied in Thailand to work in education – to be a teacher,” he said. “I started working in hospitality service in Thailand for one year. I moved my career to Dubai to work as a waiter, supervisor and transferred to the kitchen where I began to learn all the things about that.”
He worked for a while in New Zealand and established a name for himself in the business.
“I came back to Dubai and tried to decide which country to settle my life,” he said. ”I got two offers but the more I studied about Canada I saw that there are many opportunities for the people here in a peaceful country.”
He came to Canada in 2011 and in 2012 was hired by Thai-Canadian entrepreneur Vanh Kalong.
Kalong opened the first My-Thai Restaurant in Brantford in 2001. The chain has since expanded to seven locations throughout Southwestern Ontario.
“It’s like one big family,” said Matkhammi. “She gives opportunities to people to work with her and when she feels confident that you can operate a restaurant she helps you get started.”
Matkhammi started working for Kalong in Brantford. He moved to the Waterloo location in 2013 and in 2015 he oversaw the grand opening of the My-Thai in Cambridge.
As a teacher he knows the value of doing your homework and his market research pointed to Guelph as fertile ground for opening his own My-Thai Restaurant.
“We know that people from Guelph take care of their health and we have options for organic, vegan and gluten free,” he said. “We use the fresh product. I also like to support local products especially vegetables. This will bring more income to people in the Guelph community. We have to help each other before we order from Toronto and places like that.”
He moved to Guelph last month and has been getting the restaurant ready for a soft launch during the second week of June.
“We designed it with an open concept so the customers can see into the kitchen and see how their food is being prepared,” he said. “I might spice it down a little for Canadians but for the real test I prefer to make even the herbs like lemon grass and basil and let the customer test and feel like this is the real Thai food, yes.”
To check out the menu or learn more about My-Thai Guelph and the My-Thai Real Estate and Restaurant Group call 519 826-6709 or visit the website.
