Frite Royale Burnt To The Ground On Monday Morning

Djeneba Dosso

The fire took place in the early hours of Easter Monday Around 4:00 am on April 10, the fast food restaurant Frite Royale located on Boulevard Maloney in Gatineau suffered a fire leaving the integrity of the building in shambles. 

The fire which was reported by a pedestrian took place while the restaurant was empty in the early hours of Easter Monday. A team of 24 firefighters were deployed to put out the fire and the City of Gatineau Police have now taken over the investigation.

Tony Aoun, the owner of Frite Royale says everything happened fast.

“At 4:15 am I got a phone call, that the place is on fire,” he said. “I don’t know. It went too fast. I didn’t realize what was going on all day yesterday until I got home at 10 o’clock at night.”

Police did not allow anyone inside building until 4:00 pm the next day. Once the grounds were cleared, Tony and his brother were finally allowed to go inside and access the damage with their own eyes.

“When I went in, it was a disaster,” he said. “It’s done. Everything is melted, the metal is melted — it’s a disaster.”

Aoun, who relocated to Gatineau from Fort McMurray, Alberta previously owned a Greek restaurant and a pizzeria. Greek food is his specialty, so when he arrived in the area in 2020, he had plans to turn renamed Frite Royale and exchange its menu for Greek cuisine, but those plans were put to a halt.

“I saw the place for rent, so I rented it out and 11 days after the COVID [lockdown] started,” he said.

Due the nature of COVID-19 in March 2020, Aoun was not allowed to change the sign in front of his new restaurant or the menu. He had never owned a fast food restaurant before, but he remained optimistic.

“[At first,] nobody showed up and I got stuck with this menu. My brother said, ‘let’s give it a try,’ so I tried it,” he said. “After a few months, I got used to the food, people loved the food, and I started making money.”

Prior to Monday morning’s incident, Aoun had a loyal customer base with certain clients coming in from Buckingham, Aylmer and Hull just for a plate.

As of today, he doesn’t know what the future holds for him as this was his only source of income for the past three years. While police are still trying to determine was caused the fire, Aoun remains proactive and is discussing plans of opening a food truck in the same location this summer.

More to come.

Photo cap:

Photo #1: A burnt down Frite Royale on Monday afternoon following the fire that occurred at 4 am. The restaurant just celebrated its three year anniversary in March. Djeneba Dosso