LAKELAND – “I’m shocked,” says Georges El Irani, owner of Elk Point-based restaurant Magic Pizza, whose restaurant recently won multiple categories in the Lakeland’s Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
“I mean, we’re competing with [businesses] in like St. Paul, Bonnyville, and Cold Lake,” he said, while also thanking his customers and everyone who nominated his business.
The Lakeland’s Best awards feature food businesses across the region, and Magic Pizza won first place for Best Family Restaurant, Best Nachos, Best Pizza, Best Wings, and Friendliest Business.
Magic Pizza has been in Elk Point for 28 years and El Irani’s routine has remained consistent throughout those years. He arrives at 6 a.m., mixes dough, prepares vegetables, and more before the restaurant opens at 11 a.m.
His pizza recipe has also remained the same.
“Same flour, same ingredient since day one,” he said. “I also don’t use any salt and pepper and sugar. . . because I want people to taste the sauce,” he explains.
When asked, El Irani was not willing to share his recipe. Nevertheless, he says having good habits is essential to making good food like pizza.
For example, he does not prepare his ingredients days prior, nor does he keep his ingredients frozen for days. He keeps them fresh. Fresh ingredients, he says, make a huge difference when making a great pizza.
“Oh, and the quality of cheese I buy,” is also important.
He acknowledges not everyone will love his pizza, “But I just try my best.”
Asked if he finds it exhausting to wake up so early every day, he shakes his head.
“I have passion for my cooking,” he says. “It’s like being a little kid on his first, new job. You just want to give your 1,000 per cent all the time.”
He says his wife is his biggest support, helping him remain consistent through the years.
According to El Irani, fresh and good food is not the only thing that matters in running a successful business, especially in the service industry.
“If the food is awesome but the service is bad, [customers] are not going to come back.”
He credits his staff, many of whom have been helping him for many years.
“Jeanny has been here for 27 years . . . Michelle for 25 . . . and Nikky for four years,” he says. “We just try our best to have awesome service and food.”
For El Irani, running a restaurant is “not all about money.”
“You want to pay your bills but make customers happy before anything - and that’s when they bring you the money,” he says. It’s a matter of respecting the customers too, El Irani explains.
El Irani says he is humbled to have so many people from throughout the Lakeland and surrounding communities visit his restaurant. “We got people from all over.”
“For my loyal customers, I appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart. Without them, I wouldn’t have lasted this long in here.”
