Ten years in business is a big deal, especially in the restaurant industry where new eateries are often short-lived.
"Our original goal when we opened in late 2002 was to stay in business for one year," said Kamel Abougoush who owns and operates Grateful Fed on downtown's Bernard Avenue with his son, Ryan.
"And here we are a decade later."
Longevity and success has come in phases and certainly wasn't guaranteed.
"I remember when we first opened and my goal was to make $100 a day," said Abougoush.
"We had a music theme, thus the name Grateful Fed (a play off the name of the rock band Grateful Dead), and we were dedicated to playing good music and serving good food in a clean environment. But at the beginning, we were more of a deli and served only breakfast and lunch."
The breakthrough came when son Ryan became more involved six years ago and Grateful Fed started serving dinner, featuring live music and changed its licence to neighbourhood pub to be open even later.
Business slowed last year when downtown revitalization meant the street in front of the pub was closed to vehicle traffic.
So anniversary celebrations were instead held in January with food giveaways and a recording session going to one of the live acts.
"We are grateful (again that play on words) for our loyal customers, but we're also looking to expand the brand," said Abougoush.
"We're looking forward to patio season and another 10 years."

New plane not for us
Looks like Kelowna won't get any new planes nor new routes in Air Canada's spring and summer Western Canada expansion. The airline announced it will replace a bunch of its 50-seat turbo propeller and small jet planes with the new Bombardier 74-seat Q400 Next Generation plane.
While the Q400 is a turbo prop, it is bigger, longer, sleeker, quieter, faster and more fuel efficient that typical prop planes.
Horizon Air flies the Q400 on the Kelowna-Seattle route.
Air Canada will continue to fly mostly props on its routes out of Kelowna to Vancouver and Calgary.
Its Kelowna-Toronto flights will continue to be on the 100-seat E90 jet.
No new routes have been revealed.
The move to the Q400 is seen as Air Canada's way to meet competitor WestJet head on when it launches its new regional airline Encore using Q400s.
Encore will enter smaller markets where Air Canada is currently the only player.
WestJet will reveal Monday whether its Encore service will initially serve the East or the West when it starts flying in June.
WestJet will continue to serve Kelowna with its 120-seat 737 jets.

Upcoming...
- Penticton is the only Okanagan stop for auditions for the CBC-TV business pitch show Dragons Den. Auditions are Saturday at the Okanagan College Penticton campus. Check cbc.ca/DragonsDen/Auditions for times and registration.
Steve MacNaull is a business reporter and columnist. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .