A story of adversity, trust, and courage.
Naheed Shariff shows the power of family and overcoming adversity through entrepreneurship and giving back to the community.
Photography by Nicholas Yee
Growing up in Edmonton, Naheed Shariff saw firsthand the power of hard work and a sound support system through his immigrant parents and influence from his grandmother. Both Naheed’s parents worked multiple jobs before owning several franchise locations with Boston Pizza, providing him with the foundation of his values of humility, perseverance, and consistency.
Naheed’s grandmother provided a different approach to his learning, one that was more spiritual yet grounding when it came to routine and how to start your day with abundance.
“My grandmother was a teacher, so everything she taught us would have a spiritual spin,” Naheed explains. “In early grade school I would go to the 6:00 AM morning prayer—Jamatkhana—with her. Having that routine everyday sets the tone for waking up, getting ready, and starting your day. While you don’t necessarily have to say a prayer, it sets this formation to better organize your day.”
From the lessons provided to him by his parents and grandmother, Naheed dreamed of opening his restaurant at an early age, establishing the groundwork of how we know him today: The Chief Executive Officer of Browns Socialhouse and Browns Crafthouse YEG and the Chief Executive Officer (Alberta) of California Pizza Kitchen.
“From age sixteen to twenty-three, I worked part-time in my parent’s restaurant at Boston Pizza, and in the evenings, I worked in retail,” Naheed says. “I was trained to make pizza dough, wash dishes, and keep food costs low. My knowledge of cost control methodology came from understanding the preparations in the kitchen while being able to do the work physically. By going through this process, I understood the business and set my sights high on being the youngest franchise owner at Boston Pizza.”
Naheed continues to explain his mother’s impact on his success in the business at such a young age. She taught him accounting, how to squeeze every last drop of pizza sauce, and ensure that no food was going to waste. His mom also introduced him to various negotiation business books, and Naheed found so much joy as a kid honing in on these skills.
“I would read books about business leaders when I was ten years old.” Naheed explains, “[My Mom] would bring them home to read, including Napoleon Hill’s books. I started bookkeeping for the business at thirteen years old for our Boston Pizza locations.”
He even recalls when he would ask his mom if he could accompany her to the bank to negotiate a loan.
“I used to tell my mom that I wanted to watch her negotiate the loan.” Naheed laughs. “She’d say to me, ‘no, you need to be older for that.’ Still, I would sit and learn the art of negotiation: how to get the best deal possible where both parties win.”
Naheed explains that his father was also equally important to his learnings.
“My dad is very systematic and methodical.” Naheed says, “He is a planner, and he provided a mindset of military precision. He would say, ‘If you’re going to do something, you do it at a hundred and twenty percent.’ My dad did everything that way and planned things for ten, twenty, or thirty years in the future.”
While Naheed grew up learning the business and had much success in Western Canada with his parents, Naheed thought he made his big break when Jim Treliving, co-owner of Boston Pizza and Investor on Dragon’s Den, personally invited him to open his first franchise restaurant in Ontario.
However, the journey and experience posed many unexpected challenges.
“In December 1999, Farha and I opened our first restaurant, the third Boston Pizza in Ontario,” says Naheed. “I came in from Western Canada thinking we would do so well, but we had the lowest sales in Boston Pizza history.”
Naheed had many difficulties with the location, such as finding staff, educating customers on American-style pizza, and handling deliveries and janitorial duties. Farha also juggled three jobs while training staff in the restaurant, hosting, and tutoring – all while studying for grad school.
“The two of us couldn’t make our ends meet, and it was not what I initially imagined when opening my first restaurant,” Naheed says. “Looking back now, it was a humbling yet key learning experience.”
Opening a restaurant is never easy, especially when introducing American-style pizza in Vaughan, Ontario, (being a predominantly Italian area); however, Naheed took this as a learning experience that guided his next steps.
After a year of difficulties and having $350,000 in accumulated debt in the first year, Naheed met another franchise owner who opened a Boston Pizza in Georgetown. The owner was struggling and looked to Naheed for guidance, which allowed Naheed to mitigate his company’s losses through consulting.
“He came to me asking if I could check over his books, and it was super evident that everyone was stealing from him.” Naheed says, “The things I asked him to fix, he just couldn’t do because it was an insurmountable task.”
While Naheed offered many solutions, the owner of the Boston Pizza in Georgetown eventually asked him to buy the company. He agreed and found a general manager to help grow the Georgetown location to be highly profitable. The establishment of a new general manager, accompanied by Naheed’s knowledge of the food industry, made the business extremely successful, offsetting the costs of their first location.
In 2002, Naheed’s first daughter was born, which gave him the mindset shift to re-evaluate how he and his family would move the business forward. Naheed was in his second year of ownership, and the main office had started noticing his success in Ontario.
“It was tough to balance being a new dad and managing the two businesses when my daughter was born,” Naheed explains. “On top of that, there was pressure from head office to open a third Boston Pizza because things seemed to be doing well by that time.”
Aside from managing the business, Naheed also considered Farha’s maternity leave, which would affect the family’s income. At this moment, Naheed and his family decided to speak to the head office regarding the next course of action. However, Naheed’s daughter was coming home on the meeting day, and head office could not reschedule the original meeting time.
“I had to choose between being there to bring my daughter home or attending the meeting,” Naheed says. “I felt like I had to choose to be there for the meeting, and my biggest regret to this day was not being there to bring my daughter home from the hospital. Once I made that mistake, I knew the next step.”
After much reflection, he and his parents decided to sell the restaurant due to the debt accumulated in the business. Both restaurants were sold by the end of 2002, and the family decided to move back to Edmonton. Even after both companies were sold, losses were still significant, and Naheed describes that he felt like a failure to his parents, business partners, and family.
For Naheed, the money was not merely about debt but the collective belief others had in him and how he felt like a fraud calling himself a business owner.
“It took me a long time to feel comfortable again in Edmonton,” Naheed explains. “I had to regain my confidence, surpass imposter syndrome, and reflect on how I could improve.”
One major contributor to the transition was his wife, Farha, who supported him, the business, and their children through times of adversity. Her most extensive advice to Naheed was that life is about being a lifelong learner, which has impacted him.
“During that difficult time, I didn’t want to talk to anybody. My support system got me through it all,” Naheed says. “I’m so fortunate to have the unwavering support of someone so invested in our relationship and future growth. Someone who is my best friend, partner, and now the mother of our children. Being surrounded by my entire family re-energized me to see the opportunities for the future.”
Naheed went back to work with his parents and his brother on the business, and by 2007, they had built a new restaurant to start a new business venture. Despite his parent’s concern, his parents supported him, and Naheed knew that he could learn from his past mistakes while creating a flourishing and well-known business.
After the new build, Naheed and the family went from having three restaurants to four Boston Pizzas in the city. While his mother already had a reputation as an Icon with BP, he too became well known across Canada for his success and joined Boston Pizza’s Franchise Advisory Council.
“In June of 2007, we bought the Leduc Boston Pizza.” Naheed says, “By November of 2007, we built a new Boston Pizza on 137th and 97th and built the Shopping Plaza around it simultaneously. Suddenly, we went from two high sales volume restaurants to four and became property owners. It was probably one of the best things that happened for our company. We started to create this different system of being a Ma’n’Pa restaurant within the brand of Boston Pizza.”
By the year 2011, Naheed started thinking about other opportunities. Having expanded into property management with the Shariff Group, he wondered what else would be in store regarding the food scene in Edmonton.
“In late 2011, I started to see that the business was changing, which concerned me,” Naheed explains. “I started scoping out what other food companies were doing, such as California Pizza Kitchen. Every time we travelled to the United States, I would eat there. I felt like that was the evolution of what a pizza brand should become.”
“[California Pizza Kitchen] had these cool ideas; they had cool menu items.” Naheed says, “I thought – They innovate, they want to be different. So, I started watching them. Simultaneously during that time, I heard about a company called Brown Socialhouse in 2011, and I read about the owner’s history (Scotty Morrison), who was one of the original partners of Cactus Club.”
Browns Socialhouse caught his eye in 2012, and he flew to Saskatchewan with another BP Franchisee Dan Arndt (whose father Barry Arndt had worked with his mom at the original BP corporate office in Edmonton) to try their food.
“I loved that everything was made from scratch,” Naheed explains. “You’re bringing in fresh chicken breasts, hand-pressed burgers and fresh tuna. You’re cutting it yourself as opposed to everything coming in frozen.”
After trying their delicious food and being amazed by their service, Naheed flew back to Edmonton with a new game plan in mind. He tried to convince the decision-makers at Boston Pizza to change their mind, but was told innovating in a large company is “difficult” and they continued to believe that in order to maintain a healthy food cost it would be from frozen ingredients.
At that time, California Pizzas Kitchen was owned by Golden Gate, and one of the largest stakeholders was Warren Buffett. Warren Buffet! Naheed was very excited to get something going…It took Naheed two years to talk with someone from the company because they refused to speak to someone in Edmonton.
“I was relentless.” Naheed says, “I said, ‘Listen, this is what I envisioned for the brand.’ I love what they’ve done and provided examples of what I would do differently.”
By 2014, the family sold all the Boston Pizza locations they owned, Naheed, his brother and his mom faced a non-compete for two years, but this was not the only repercussion, he also felt ostracized by his colleagues in the industry, as they now viewed him as a competitor rather than a friend that has supported them for so many years.
“Our colleagues at Boston Pizza were not happy with my mom because they thought she was tied to the launch of Browns even though she was not involved with it.” Naheed says, “It destroyed a lot of relationships that we had since the 1980s with a lot of these big players. They were agitated, and rumours were flying around, which affected my mom, despite saying she wasn’t involved. This led to a real demise in her health. She started having fainting spells and going into seizures, which created a lot of stress and anxiety for her.”
Naheed continues to elaborate on the feedback and arrogance he received. The experience caused him a lot of stress, leading to macular degeneration in his right eye.
“I lost colour in my right eye, all stress-induced from going through that.” Naheed explains, “I had a couple of surgeries, and I have colour, but only 60%.”
Despite the complications with the sale, and the pushback in the industry, Naheed’s dad had set his sights to open Brown’s Social House in 2015.
“In 2015, my dad opened Browns.” Naheed says, “He’s such a cool cat. When I envisioned Browns, I envisioned a guy like my dad coming and sitting at the wood and talking to the regulars and chilling out, and it was a business for him.”
Fast forward to 2020 his mom became the owner of California Pizza Kitchen, while Naheed remains the CEO of both brands. In doing so, Naheed has the flexibility to operate within the parameters of both franchise agreements.
Although, plans often change as Naheed lost an essential person in his life. During that time, his brother was battling cancer.
“My brother was diagnosed with cancer on his 30th birthday.” Naheed explains, “Here we were selling our business, which he had worked, battling cancer. At that time, California Pizza Kitchen told me they were ready to move forward. But when they contacted us, he was still in and out of chemotherapy. We were worried where it would flare up.”
In 2018, his brother’s health took a challenging turn. The family was in the midst of signing an agreement to build more Brown’s locations, and Naheed welcomed his brother’s new son into the world. However, his brother ended up passing away just one month later.
Stifled with grief, Naheed had to call the head office at California Pizza Kitchen to ask to pause the business.
“The President Jim Hyatt [California Pizza Kitchen] told me to take my time and call them when I was ready.” Naheed says, “I was shocked that this big global brand said they would wait for me, realizing that this is what business is about. Making things mutually beneficial.”
While Naheed had set his eyes on launching the new restaurant by 2020, the world had shut down due to a Global Pandemic. However, this did not waiver Naheed’s confidence, as he took everything he learned so far during his challenges and stayed optimistic.
Naheed grew and succeeded with Brown’s Social House during his discussions with California Pizza Kitchen. This year, he is looking forward to launching California Pizza Kitchen in the City of Edmonton.
Though the most significant success of it all? Being able to give back to the community while spending time with his family.
“The Pandemic changed everything.” Naheed explains, “The Pandemic forced us to reflect on how we lived and where I spent my time. It made me realize that we need to prioritize family life and take time away from work.”
Naheed elaborates on how putting his phone away to be present has elevated his life. He now takes pride in going on walks with his wife and family frequently, where they can spend quality time together to enjoy each other’s company.
Aside from family and work, Naheed spends time giving back to the community through collaborating with Kids With Cancer, the Cross Cancer Institute, and the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. These organizations are close to Naheed’s heart, as they have impacted his family in a positive and fulfilling way.
Naheed shared a particular story regarding his brother, who was diagnosed with cancer and was very involved with Kids With Cancer due to past collaborations they’ve had with Boston Pizza. There, Naheed’s brother was told the story of a girl’s prosthetic that looked identical to his, which is a story that will be tied to the Shariff family forever. The impact of this story guided Naheed to strive to give back to Kids With Cancer and the Cross Cancer Institute.
“We have this picture, and it’s my brother with a cancer survivor, and she had Ewing’s Sarcoma.” Naheed explains, “She told my brother her story, and that’s the same cancer he was diagnosed, and he had a prosthetic exactly like hers, so it will be tied to us forever that we were meant to be a part of that organization. When [California Pizza Kitchen] comes on board, we will start doing more work with Kids with Cancer.”
Further along his journey, Naheed’s mother had a heart transplant, which expanded the family’s work to give back to the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. Naheed explains the impact of this fantastic organization with hopes of continuing to give back to the community.
“On the Browns side, we’ve done a lot of stuff with the Cross Cancer Institute because my brother spent a lot of time there.” Naheed sags, “We are also doing work with the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute because my mom had a heart transplant last year.”
Giving back to the community is a crucial value for the Shariff family. They have shown that business is not always about money but making the community a better place.
Aside from these non-profit organizations, The Shariff Family has done some work with the University of Alberta Botanic Garden as a tribute to his brother, Faisel. It’s another way that the Shariff family honours the memory of a young individual and a reminder that life is short – so to live it to the fullest every day.
There is more to Naheed than non-profit organizations and his love for food. We get to know Naheed more through his fun and exciting activities.
Naheed highlights his collaboration with Audi Edmonton North. Both himself and his wife Farha are ambassadors for the brand. Another way that the Naheed family connects to the community.
“The safeguards are why we drive Audis,” Naheed explains. “Farha was hit with a head-on collision in a Q7, saving her life. We will continue to drive Audi’s for years to come.”
More importantly, Naheed gives us the true meaning of success and the impact of slowing down to appreciate life. He gives us some of his favourite things to do in his spare time, including eating dishes at Browns, trying out new places in the City of Edmonton, and supporting local businesses such as Brio Bakery and Iconoclast.
“For anyone wondering about my favourite dishes at Browns, I have two to recommend,” Naheed says. “The first one during the week would be the Tuna Poke bowl. Then, without fail, is the Hollywood Burger.”
Through the trials and tribulations of owning a business, the grief of losing his brother, the growth from being a father and a husband, and the challenges of a global pandemic, Naheed shows us the power of resilience and overcoming obstacles with the ones he loves.
“One of the things that the kids taught me is that not everything needs to be done right now. It can be done later, and there will always be a time and place” Naheed says, “I was a creature of urgency. Once that was taken away, I found peace. So, my definition of success is Happiness.”
Instagram: @nns0075
LinkedIn: Naheed Shariff
Photography by: nicholasdyee.com
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