CANORA - “I enjoy the freedom of being my own boss and making people happy with my food.”
After the experience of working for other people, Gabriel Safatli, known to friends and customers as “Gabby,” knew he would only be happy if he could own his own business. For the past 20 years, he and his wife Tanya Desrosiers have been making that dream come true at Gabano’s Pizza in Canora.
Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gabby attended Notre Dame and Dalhousie universities, “but I dropped out in my third year to pursue an opening at a pizzeria.”
Before coming to Canora and owning his own business, he experienced a wide variety of work environments.
“I have experience in everything from being a waiter, bartending, I even tried to become a barber,” said Safatli. “While in university I did telemarketing and worked pizza in my uncle’s place.”
Gabby said he knew he wanted to own his own business ever since he was 21 and right after his first son was born, “But I felt like I wanted to do this my whole life.”
The Safatli family made the move to Canora in late 2002, and in 2004 he made his dream of owning a business a reality.
“I love my business!” said Gabby. “I learned faster working a long time for other people. I didn’t want to do that anymore and then pizza called to me. I was raised in the pizza business, we used to live on top of one of our pizza places.”
Gabano’s Pizza offers pizza and sub sandwiches to its loyal customer base. Gabby said he likes to “think outside the box” and add his own spin to various menu items, including “adding my own pizza section of pizza flavours I made up.”
The most popular menu item flavours include chicken bacon ranch, Adam bomb, dill pickle, “and nothing better than a classic peperoni.
“I'll be bringing back the super slice, which is two slices of pizza with extra cheese and ranch dressing. We take the slices and we put it back in the oven for the ranch and cheese to melt.”
Time moves on for everyone, and while Canora has meant a lot to the Safatli family, Gabby said he’s being pulled in two different directions when it comes to future plans.
“My youngest is graduating and Canora has been super good to me. I’m having a pull to move closer to family as I'm getting older. I'm seeing it's time to get closer.”
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