Sarnia Small Business Spotlight: Bae Salamati

Chances are if you’ve headed downtown for dinner or drinks once or twice, you’ve run into Roza, and if you’ve run into Roza, you probably haven’t forgotten it. Animated, enthusiastic, and an authentic spirit, all 5 feet of her is hard to forget. The odd thing is, she probably hasn’t forgotten you either. Two and a half years ago Roza served me at Lola’s. I specifically remember questioning her about when all the cute men came in for lunch. As we spoke last week about her new business, she brought up this exact conversation. Some memory this woman’s got, and all the more reason to love her magnetizing personality.

 Roza’s journey to Sarnia-Lambton started in Toronto, where she met her Sarnia born and raised husband while attending college. In 2015, when deciding where their next move should be, they decided they didn’t want to be in the city, and that’s when Roza became a Sarnia “import”. Now living in Camlachie, they love the area because, as an outdoorsy family, they get to be so close to the beach. She loves the small-town vibe that Sarnia offers, and loves watching the community grow. It’s great for her to see all the entrepreneurs (especially female!), making waves, and upgrading it from basic boring Sarnia.

 Serving and eventually becoming GM of Limbo and Sideways, Roza built up a strong reputation in town. When the restaurant industry got hit hard in 2020, she used it as an opportunity (as a boss babe would) to start her own business. Bae Salamati was launched in August 2020. It is a meal prep and personal chef service. She will come into your home and prepare healthy, wholesome and holistic meals. She also just found a kitchen where she can prepare meals outside of the home, if that is something that interests you more.

 Born in Iran, and moving to Toronto when she was two, Roza’s childhood built her a strong foundation that allows her to bring joy and passion back into the kitchens of Sarnia – Lambton. Kraft Dinner and Chef Boyardee were far from on the menu in Roza’s family. Her family would prepare beautiful Persian meals, with fresh ingredients and rich spices. As she grew older, she would learn from friends, moms, and grandma’s how to make a mixture of authentic meals from Mexican to Asian to Thai to Jamaican.

 Roza wants to change the way you look at food, and inspire you to make and love the wholesome, healthy foods she makes. She wants to provide you with the ability to sit down, feel no stress and take time to enjoy a meal with your family, because she’s already prepared it for you. As a culture we’ve been taught to quickly eat and move on to other things. Roza is here to change that, and have us appreciate and love the meals in front of us, and the people we are eating with.

I’m so happy I got to have some time to learn about Roza and this incredible business she is building. Cheers to you. Bae Salamati.

Bae Salamati is often used as “cheers” in Farsi. The direct translation, does not just mean cheers, but it means “To good health”, and I cannot think of a name that suits Roza and her business any better.

Roza’s quick tip:

Swap out your Kraft peanut butter for natural peanut butter. Ingredients in Kraft: Icing sugar, canola oil, palm oil. Ingredients in natural peanut butter: peanuts.