Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Society Travel & Tourism
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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

I am from Sauga, as in Ive lived there for the past 10 years.. what kinda info EXACTLY are you looking for? Like everyone's said, there are malls/ strip malls nearly on every light. There are TONS of desi grocery stores/ restaurants. If you're looking for a specific area to start your business, you will obv have to do the research in person b/c the rest of us don't know your budget, or even the leasing price of any specific location.

I think it's a good place to start to live in if you're just moving to Canada and youre brown. Halal meat's easily available and there are tons of desis, esp pakistanis so you wont feel miserable, or left out. There are public schools in every neighborhood, so say if you settled in a certain neighborhood, you will have a junior school/ middle school/ high school, all 3 in your zone.

In terms of jobs, well what's your background? I am not too sure but if you have a post grad/ or any certification from the UK, US, mostly I believe you still might have to do a refresher course here. Mall jobs are easily available (provided that there are any available these days in this time of recession..) But wont kill your spirit. You will have to come here and try your luck, and like I said, tons of desis here, you wont really have a problem adjusting.

Don't know abt the UK, but incase you don't know, the medical here is covered by the govt (provided you're a citizen/ resident -- like not on student visa or such) so you can go to the doc and not have to worry abt the bill, or even medical insurance.

The only downlow of being in sauga is the rent!!! I personally think the rent is higher than other areas, say if you're renting a portion of the house, or a basement or condo, I think if you're with family, you might have to do a minimum of $800 plus amenities.

Can't thnk of anything else.. but yeah, let me know if you've any other questions. Goodluck!

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Been living in Mississauga for the last 20 years. You will LOVE it here. There are tons of desi's in Mississauga. For the most part, it's still really safe compared to Toronto and a few other neighbouring cities.

Real estate in Mississauga is VERY expensive though, you will not find a decent house for less than $400,000. Even small townhouses are like $350,000 and up.

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LOL... that's cheap compared to the UK.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Thankyou all for the help more questions for you.Does anybody know of the ISNA school in missisuaga?if so whats it like?Also i am looking to rent two or three bedroom place any ideas on who to contact?are the takeouts and restaurants just for desis or like the uk is our food popular amongst the whites etc?

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

sauga is the sh!t ! ! ! !!! !

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

ok well why do you say that.you are the first to say something bad about it whats the reason?

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Attique bhai, that is today’s slang and it means good.

To say “Mississauga is sh!t” means it is bad.
To say “Mississauga is the sh!t” means it is good.

If you would like an idea about how much property rental costs in Mississauga, go to this website:
mississauga apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

If you would like to see house prices, go to this website:
REALTOR.ca -

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

^heheh...

Attique bhai, also why do you care for the ISNA school? There are other Islamic schools in sauga too. I mean if you want to reside close to the ISNA school, then that's a different story. Sorry, don't have any info on it but if you go to their website, I'm sure you will get a lot of your questions answered. Also, you could send your kids to a regular school, and then have them sent to madarsa/ masjid for daily Quran classes. And needless to say. there are also lots of mosques in sauga, rather the GTA!

And don't rush into the restaurant business so fast. Goras like our food but once you land in sauga/ toronto, you will find out just how MANY desi restaurants there are! It's better to do a market survey so you know what every other desi restaurant is offering so you do smthng bigger n better. The competition will be high, like I said, desi restaurants, take outs, eat -ins, halal food, desi / halal groceries, you will find almost at every other light in sauga. No jokes.. :)

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

It would be very foolish to dive into the desi restaurant business without atleast a year's worth of research / feasibility study. Competition is tough and most businesses just barely manage to break even during the first few years of operation. Taxes are high and so are running expenses. Some places here that have seen good growth are those that have offered something 'different', like bhenjee mentioned above. Either that or provide exceptionally great service and a consistently great tasting menu while maintaining reasonable prices.

Non-desi people do curry 3-4 times a year. They arent addicted to desi food yet like the white people in UK. So if you're banking on that you might have to scratch non-desi's off your list. You will have a regular white clientèle only if you offer fine dining comparable to other fine dining establishments, but then you'll have to jack the prices up so high you will scare all the desis away.

The rage for the last few years have been hakka food, i.e. desi chinese. And in addition to a few good ones, a lot of bad hakka restaurants have popped up where you cant tell the difference between szechuan or manchurian chicken. Maybe that is something you can look into.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

I feel a bit stupid with the "****" thing guys.lol.But its the first time i heard it in that context yeah we guys normally say phat,bad etc but anyways cheegum and bhenjee thank you once again.I am hopefully coming over with my family in july and the plan is not to rush into anything but i am confident my set up will be different i am thinking of more a cafe/takeaway chat patta style if you know what i mean?Also can you tell me what is the situation with cellular phone shops any scope in that or call centers i have about six years experience in that business too.Bhenjee you mentioned of other schools any chance of any names and what time are you guys normally on it would be nice to have a chat i am in Pakistan at the moment so enjoying the sun and nothing to do but browse the net i have to say Pakistan internet has improved!

Mein Hoon Shahid Afridi
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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

^hhehe. My take on desi restaurants (and we have all sorts here, eat-ins, take-outs, full meals, chaat/samosas etc) here is that the customer service SUCKS. Hygiene is non-existent, there's just no professionalism in running the whole restaurant. I'll share with you these 2 personal experiences:

My hubs and I really like the kabab rolls from this desi restaurant in Mississauga called Shahi naan kabab and well mostly we would just order and take out. But the couple times that I was there, they had this desi aunty in a HORRENDOUS hulya, resting her elbows on the couter and looking outside the window. It was around mid afternoon. We walked in, she looked us up and down enough times and then told us that " it was closed".
We kinda felt funny abt it and almost walked out when my husband just asked her if we could do take out..

And then we found out that she meant to say that the lunch buffet was closed. We walked in, ordered our food and chose this seemingly clean table by the window. The lady wont let us eat in peace, she would KEEP ON STARING the whole freakin time. Not only that, 80% of the tables around us were DIRTY. as in, they hadn't been cleaned up, infact you could even see the leftover bones and other carcass (ewww) on plates if you unknowingly happened to randomly glance around.

Now this lady brought us our food, and well.... I almost didnt wanna eat it. Her hair was a big mess, all over the place, her clothes were abominable. And she couldn't be bothered to clean up the tables, rather she spent her time looking outside the window.

My 2nd experience:
We were at this desi hakka chinese restaurant, I think hot and sour or so, down in sauga. And well I was with my family. We were 6 in all.. and this guy seated us at a table made for 4, and put 2 chairs on the smaller side of the rectangular table to seat 6. There was barfely enough room for us to hold back our elbows, talk abt when he brought us our plates, plus the soon to arrive food platters. My dad got pissed off and asked him to move us to a bigger table which let to a bigger argument and we just walked out. This serving guy just refused to understand why we would requre a table for 8 when we were 6. Clearly he had no sense that there's a minimum personal space requirement at a dining table.

To shorten my points: If you want your desi restaurant to be a big hit, (with the goras and all too),. you need to provide a typically non desi (by which I mean the scenarios I described above) type settings in your restaurant. Spend money on interior design/ decor, HIRE FRIENDLY, WELL DRESSED, presentable staff who can communicate well. Focus on exceptional customer service, No cramping of seating (just b/c you wanna bring in more ppl). Spend on advertising. Have the chef come outside and talk to his "clients". If you can beat all this, your restaurant WILL BE A HUGE SUCCES amongst all other desi crap restaurants in sauga.

To quote another example, there's this halal steak place in Pickering by the name of Affy's steak house. Now this guy is the prime example of what your restaurant should be like. The customer service is exceptional, the head chef is ALWAYS, ALWAYS coming out to greet ppl, ask them during the meal if the food's ok, the decor is pretty good. And the times I've been there, Ive seen enough goras down there too.. and this is a steak place. Goras wouldn't bother going there given they have so many other options!!

(phew... happy reading :D)

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

bhenjee once again thankyou inshallah i will start of with a small place but hygiene and customer service will be second to none and it will be a few dishes everyday and grilled food with a touch of difference i get your point.My whole thing is that just like the uk there a good ones and bad ones and its the small things that make a difference and have people coming back.Acha if you know of anyone wanting to rent the place out please let me know this is my biggest worry right now just want to settle the kids in.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Will let you know if I know anyone. What are you wanting to rent? Condo/ whole house.. basement? And how many family members do you have?

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Well there is me and my wife and mashallah four children.I think the basement sound appealing but i dont know if its going to be ok for us especially we dont really have that kind of accommodation in the uk.So more than likely even though its alot more expensive to rent a house i think that might be our only option.Also can you tell me what is the average wage over there.And apart from nandos do you have any takeouts or restaurants doing peri peri chicken?i am sorry for all the questions just a bit worried becaus its the first time we are coming over so just teying to get as much info as possible.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Minimum wage - $8 per hour. This is for odd jobs like gas station attendant and the likes.
Phone Customer Service reps make around $12 - $16, to give you an idea.

I havent seen anyone else do peri peri chicken except nandos. Isnt that a nando’s specialty only? Thats like asking if anyone other than Burger King makes double whoppers. :slight_smile:

Most basements have 1-2 bedrooms tops. Dont know if the 6 of you will last long in a 2 bed basement. Most basements have very tiny windows and are extremely depressing.

mississauga apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

Go through this website and email everyone you see there. Talk to these people and get a feel of the prices.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Thank you cheegum for that info Peri Peri chicken is actually Portuguese and its the way its cooked so yes its mainly nandos that do it but it has really taken of in the uk with a touch of desee flavour.lol

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

I would advise you to not worry abt the restaurant business so much right now. It's best that you take care of your other priorities first (imho) like accomodation. Like cheegum sent you the link, follow that. Many people might not even be willing to rent out their basement to you since obv you hav a larger family (MA) and hence, you will be consuming more of the resources, (water/power) as opposed a single guy or a couple with a child.

Look for condos instead of jumping into a house. And I think it's best that you come here, possibly find work of some sort, say gas station/ pizza delivery or any other such job taht you can land and explore the area. You will then know where you really wanna invest in buying a house/ business/ and what kinda business will be most lucrative for you!
Goodluckkk!!!!!

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Cheegum and company are doing a good job of guiding you.
Let us know closer to the date that you are arriving and we'll arrange a welcome party for you inshallah.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

^ off course it is for you...you live on Mississauga Rd.

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Re: Help! Moving to Mississauga from UK

Well bhenjee thank you once again that is what the plan is inshallah just want to get the kids in school first of all and then begin to look around.Muzna jee thankyou for the warm gesture it just makes me and my family feel at home allready.Ladies i am also bringing over a few samples of ready made clothing from our factory over here this is another thing we do we supply wholesale ladies shalwar kameez and yes i know there are a quite alot of shops in missisuaga but hopefully i am confident that our clothing and prices are alot better.Also if theres something you are missing from back home let me know may be i can bring a few gifts over.Me and my family really appreciate that you take out a little time to answer our quetions and guide us.Ok for now thats it going of now to search for condos.