How a Canadian Fast-Food Chain Beat Inflation With Bitcoin: The 70% Reserve Strategy

The Unlikely Crypto Power Move

I’ve spent years analyzing DeFi protocols and gas fee patterns, but nothing prepared me for the quiet revolution happening at Tahini—a Mediterranean fast-food chain in Canada. While others chase yield farms or meme coins, Tahini’s leadership made a calculated bet: turn their cash reserves into Bitcoin.

They didn’t just dip their toes. By 2024, over 70% of their company treasury was held in BTC. At first glance? Insane. But when you dig into the numbers and the founders’ backstory—especially Ali Hamam’s childhood amid Egypt’s 85% currency collapse—it becomes less like speculation and more like survival calculus.

From Crisis to Code: A Family Legacy

Ali didn’t fall into crypto by accident. His family watched their savings vaporize during Egypt’s hyperinflation cycles—sometimes losing half their value in weeks. That trauma shaped his worldview: if money can be erased overnight, why not anchor your wealth to something mathematically immutable?

When Bitcoin plunged from \(10K to \)4K in March 2020 during pandemic panic, Ali saw not fear—but opportunity. He started with small buys, then dove deep into whitepapers and podcasts until he was fully immersed in ‘the rabbit hole.’

It wasn’t just passion; it was pattern recognition—just like my own backtesting work on Ethereum volatility. He saw what so many missed: central banks were printing trillions while mining scarcity remained fixed.

The DCA Playbook That Works (Even When You Hate It)

Tahini didn’t go all-in overnight. They used Dollar-Cost Averaging—buying BTC monthly regardless of price.

No timing. No predictions. Just consistency.

Omar Hamam put it simply: “Buy every month. Price doesn’t matter.” Sounds too basic? Try running the numbers:

• Buy \(1K every two weeks at \)68K (peak) → average cost lower than spot.
• When BTC rebounds past $35K post-bear market → breakeven achieved—and gains begin.

This isn’t theory; it’s what we see in Dune Analytics dashboards across institutions today.

For Tahini, monthly accounting cycles synced perfectly with monthly buys—a system designed for durability over brilliance.

Why Not Accept Bitcoin Payments?

The dream was obvious: let customers pay with BTC at checkout. But here’s where reality bites—POS systems are still walled gardens.

Most point-of-sale software locks out external protocols due to closed-source architecture and strict API rules. Even worse? These systems aren’t just about payments—they manage inventory, reports, scheduling—and no current crypto solution matches that depth.

So they pivoted smartly: install Bitcoin ATMs in select locations via partnership with Bitcoin Well.

Not glamorous—but powerful leverage:

• Every profit from ATM transactions is directly funneled into BTC reserves per store.
• Monthly income may hover around CAD\(250 per location… but compounded over years? Now each store holds over CAD\)40K worth of sats—all passive growth from operational friction turned asset capture.

It’s not perfect—but it works within constraints.