Refugees from Iraq see restaurant success in Iowa

“I had my daughter and three boys to maintain,” Zalzala mentioned. “It was very arduous as a result of we didn’t communicate the language. We may simply say ‘sure’ and ‘no.’”

The only supplier for her household, she usually labored three or 4 jobs at a time to make ends meet. A type of jobs was working at Taza Recent, a Mediterranean eatery that started as a meals truck earlier than it grew to become a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Ankeny.

Based by Thaer Taha, additionally a refugee from Iraq, Zalzala is now serving to to develop the enterprise with its first franchise location, now open in Ames.

Collectively she and her household — sons Ali Ahmed, Abdullah Ahmed and Emad Ahmed, and daughter and son-in-law Aaya Ahmed and Harith Alanbagi — personal and work collectively within the restaurant, 1310 S. Duff Ave., which opened July 10.

“We have been all already working with everyone in a distinct place,” Zalzala informed the Ames Tribune. “So we thought, ‘Why not work collectively?’”

The day it opened, the road of consumers reached virtually all the best way to Finest Purchase, mentioned Ali Ahmed. “The primary week, we’d run out of meals three or 4 hours earlier than closing. And we have been actually prepping for 2 days’ value of enterprise,” he mentioned.

Their recognition in Ames was one of many causes Taha determined to develop with franchises within the first place. Individuals who’d eaten from the meals truck parked at Iowa State College would journey to Ankeny “simply to get the meals” of shawarma, falafel, hummus and pita, Ali Ahmed mentioned.

However there’s a deeper which means to Taza Recent’s growth. Taha mentioned he additionally wished to offer members of the family a possibility to work collectively and create a profitable enterprise within the US.

And at a time when many eating places are struggling to maintain employees, members of the family coming collectively may be one reply to the issue, Taha mentioned.

“I wish to carry some conventional Center Japanese meals right here,” he mentioned. “This idea will probably be for positive a profitable (one) for the household to run their enterprise.

Taha got here to america as a refugee in 2009. He left his residence nation of Iraq in 1997 for employment alternatives in Dubai, and deliberate to work a number of years earlier than he moved again residence to begin a enterprise.

“However by then the struggle had began. My nation was destroyed by struggle after struggle,” he mentioned.

He and his spouse, Maruj, finally moved to Malaysia, the place they and one other couple began a small bakery and grocery retailer.

Due to a visa denial, the couple moved to Jordan, the place Maruj’s household had escaped to from Iraq. There, they utilized to be refugees by way of the United Nations and after about two years, america accepted them.

“They informed me Iowa was secure. Sure, they’ve very chilly climate, however I used to be on the lookout for a secure place for my kids,” Taha mentioned.

He labored at Dee Zee manufacturing and was a forklift driver at Firestone Tire Firm. He finally left manufacturing to get a really feel for the American restaurant trade.

“I might work part-time in two eating places at a time,” Taha mentioned. “After one 12 months, I made a decision to search for a restaurant.”

The funding was steep — about $400,000.

So he determined to begin small and in April 2018, he began his personal meals truck.

“It was a really arduous time at first as a result of the general public didn’t know our identify. They didn’t know our product. ‘What’s shawarma?’ ‘What’s falafel?’ Generally we gave out samples greater than we’d promote,” he mentioned.

Generally Taha would go residence with zero gross sales, he mentioned.

“It was a horrible expertise. However I used to be preventing to run my enterprise and take it to the following degree.

“Me and my spouse, we have been knocking the doorways. She was knocking the neighbors’ doorways. I used to be knocking the corporate doorways. ‘We’ve a meals truck.’ ‘We will do catering,’” he mentioned.

Taza Recent finally participated within the Meals Truck Throwdown in downtown Des Moines — and received three trophies in two years. For some time, Taza Recent additionally was a meals truck vendor at Iowa State.

“The scholars liked us. It was simpler than downtown due to the variety. Some college students have been Indian, Arabic or Malaysian, in order that they knew Mediterranean meals and they’d educate their American pals,” Taha mentioned.

The meals truck experiences gave the Tahas the push they wanted.

In March of 2020, Taha closed it down due to the coronavirus pandemic. However he stored creating recipes, and made plans to return again as a brick-and-mortar operation.

With assist from the Ankeny Chamber of Commerce, Taza Recent opened its first standalone location on the Des Moines Space Neighborhood School scholar heart, 2006 S. Ankeny Blvd., within the former Leaning Tower of Pizza.

Whereas the nuts and bolts of the restaurant aren’t from scratch, the meals is. Taha has developed a number of recipes on Taza’s menu, and his aim is to make these recipes simply replicated at different places.

“My aim isn’t about how a lot I’m incomes as we speak however how can I make it straightforward for different folks to run this enterprise,” he mentioned. “Particularly with Mediterranean and Center Japanese meals, it’s a bit of extra sophisticated. It’s not simply placing a hamburger on a grill.”

It’s one thing Taha mentioned he devised to assist take some threat out of the funding for his franchisees. Having the identical cooking processes in a number of places helps experiences stay constant for purchasers, whatever the location.

Though Zalzala’s household was not skilled in cooking, Taha was in a position to practice her grownup kids to cook dinner all the things on the menu.

“They cook dinner. They marinate. They do hummus. They do sauces. They cook dinner the rooster and the steak. They observe the steps, 1-2-3,” Taha mentioned. “They’ve a guide for that.”

“Anybody who has a ardour, we’re prepared to coach them from A-to-Z,” he mentioned.

He additionally gives them with coaching and assist for any new merchandise which might be added to the menu.

The one factor he doesn’t share? The recipe for his spice mix, which options eight to 10 substances that Taha mixes in Ankeny and sends to Ames.

“It’s a secret recipe and it’s the one factor I didn’t educate them learn how to make,” Taha mentioned with amusing.

The rooster shawarma has been the preferred menu merchandise in Ames, however Ali Ahmed mentioned his favourite is the steak shawarma. It’s additionally out there with falafel as a vegetarian possibility.

“Within the Center East, shawarmas are for positive identified to be rooster,” Ali Ahmed mentioned. “Everyone can also be actually liking the falafel. It’s made an identical to how it’s made again residence.”

Shawarma is thinly sliced rooster or steak that has been marinated in a single day. It’s Taha’s personal recipe, which incorporates citrus juice.

“Our spices, we don’t make it spicy however we make it flavorful,” he mentioned. “Mediterranean and Center Japanese flavors usually are not over-spiced. You can’t determine what the spices are — it’s concerning the mix.”

The restaurant’s signature shawarma is a wrap made out of pita, usually discovered as road meals within the Center East. It consists of french fries, garlic sauce and pickles.

“That is our road meals and we wish to maintain it a bit of bit distinctive. Generally prospects will say, ‘What? It has fries in it?’ And I’ll say, ‘Should you don’t prefer it, I’ll provide you with your a refund,’” Taha mentioned.

“They at all times prefer it.”

The spring shawarma is a grilled wrap that features tomato and onion as a substitute of fries. It additionally comes as a bowl, which incorporates basmati rice cooked with Taha’s mix of spice.

Falafel is on the market on shawarma or as a aspect.

“Falafel is tough to search out in Iowa usually and ours is gluten free,” Taha mentioned. “We make it from solely chickpeas, greens, herbs and spices.”

Hummus, tzatziki and the baba ganouj are all comprised of scratch.

“Many substances in our delicacies are very wholesome. Just like the chickpeas are wealthy in protein and iron, and sesame seeds are very wealthy in calcium,” Taha mentioned. “We’ve many choices which might be wholesome and flavorful too.”

Home made baklava and wholesome granola bars are sometimes out there as desserts.

On the finish of the day, sharing the flavors of their residence nation is fulfilling, Abdullah Ahmed mentioned. And residing as much as the Taza Recent identify — Taza means contemporary in Arabic — by making meals from scratch every day is necessary to them.

“We love for our prospects to see what different good meals is on the market that they simply haven’t been launched to,” Ali Ahmed mentioned.