What It Really Costs to Run a Restaurant
Series: Ottawa Eats
Amelia Tran left a permanent government position — the Ottawa dream, some would say — to open Maison Linh, a 28-seat Vietnamese-French restaurant in Chinatown. In the first episode of Ottawa Eats, she opens the books. Food costs, labour, rent, the margin on a bowl of pho versus a tasting menu. We talk about the nights the room is full and the restaurant still loses money, the burnout year, and the moment she stopped trying to please everyone and the restaurant found its identity.
- Leaving the public service for a kitchen
- The real margins on a 28-seat room
- Rent, labour and food costs in 2026
- Burnout and coming back from it
- Finding the restaurant's identity
Everyone sees the full dining room. Nobody sees the 4 a.m. spreadsheet.
Amelia Tran
Chef & Owner, Maison Linh
Amelia left a stable government job to open a 28-seat Vietnamese-French restaurant on a side street in Chinatown. She'll tell you exactly what it costs to run a restaurant in this city — the margins, the burnout, the nights she almost quit — and why she'd still do it all again.