La Panthère Verte

Chaim Shoham left Israel at age 20 to race motorbikes in Australia. He experienced more crashes than victories and decided to head to India for a yoga retreat. While there, he opened a small restaurant that served food out of the back of an old building. Out of necessity, he learned to rely on using only natural, local and organic foods, and how to serve his customers with very little in the way of resources.

If he could do it in India, he wondered, could he do it in the developed world? He set out to do just that and relocated to Montreal in 2002. He began whipping up healthy cuisine in his kitchen and delivering it on his bike. In 2009, his little operation spawned La Panthère Verte, a full-on restaurant in Montreal’s Mile End.

Among the staff was Dave Adams, an expert dishwasher until Chaim found out about his past (Dave was a sales executive in London, but sought to escape the stresses of his high-pressure job). Once Chaim discovered this, he promoted Dave to food truck manager, then asked him to run the restaurant and soon made him the director of operations.