Cheestix Cafe

For years, Arif and Laila Jamal operated the Cheestix Café in the food court at Capilano Mall, but they always felt it lacked the personal connection with customers they craved. In 2013 when the mall went through a massive reconstruction, the food court was eliminated and that prompted the couple to seek out their ideal new location. They found it inside the Synergy Wellness Centre in Sherwood Park. “This came up. The building is fairly new. The location was available and it was perfect, exactly what I was looking for,” says Laila. “So far we’ve been really happy.”

Wherever they have been located, Laila and Arif have been successful thanks to their decades of experience and business know-how. “We were good at it, it seems to come easy to us,” says Laila. “We have a passion for trying different things and seeing how happy customers can be when you give them something different than they are used to.”