Qatar restaurant owners pick up tab for cash-strapped customers

When first-time restaurant owners Shadab Ahmed Khan and his brother Nishad Ahmed Khan put up a sign outside their restaurant offering penniless workers free food, they never expected to become mini-celebrities.

The two owners of Zaiqa, an Indian restaurant in the Industrial Area that opened nine months ago, began offering free meals to workers a few weeks ago, after a customer who ate there said he didn’t have enough money to pay the bill.

Speaking to Doha News, Shadab Khan, a 46-year-old Indian expat who has been in Qatar for 13 years, explained:

“We gave him the meal free of charge. My brother then realized that there are probably more people who are in the same situation – people who don’t have money but are too shy to admit it, and are hungry. So we decided to do this.”

So far, the restaurant, which is open 24/7 and is located on Kassarat Street between Streets 22 and 23, has seen some 20 people – two to three a day – take up the offer. News of the policy went viral after it was featured on Qatar Living earlier this week.

Original article by Chantelle D’Mello

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Qatar restaurant owners pick up tab for cash-strapped customers