Today, I received some amazing advice from a man named Mr. Hashim. Recently I reviewed an amazing restaurant, the Kabob Korner, and met Mr. Hashim, the owner, and today I had the privilege to interview him. The food was absolutely incredible, and if you haven’t read my review of it yet, you should.
When I entered the restaurant, I was immediately greeted by Mrs. Hashim, offered a soda cup, and was told Mr. Hashim would be just a minute. Very shortly after I sat down he came in and sat down in front of me. “Hi, how are you? it’s good to see you again.” he said. After talking for a minute or two, we got to the questions.
What made you want to start a restaurant?
“I’ve been working in a restaurant ever since I was 14, I started as a bust boy and even though I was young, I took it very seriously and by 17 I worked my way up to a chef position at the same restaurant. All my life I’ve worked in restaurants, gathering experience, from being a busser to owning franchises so I wanted to put all my experience into something from the heart.”
Do you have any inspirations?
“Yes, every morning Instead of scrolling on social media, I watch the motivational speaker Tony Robinson. Especially at your young age your brain is like a sponge, you must fill it with positive stuff and not junk.”
Why kabobs?
“There was a need for them. I live in Bel Air, and before us me and people that live in Joppa, Aberdeen have drive to the city to get some authentic kabobs, but we also use our halal meat for our gyros and Mexican food.
Do you think the staff you hire have a big impact on the business?
“Absolutely. I’ve interviewed many different people from all over, and I ask them all the same question. Who is the most important part of the business? And all of them say the thing, the customer, that’s not true. Your staff always come first, you don’t want to hire people that come in just because it’s a job, you need to hire people with the same passion as you, people who work from the heart. It isn’t that the customer comes second to the staff, but if you don’t treat your workers right, and make them happy, there not gonna put 100% into their work, and then the customers aren’t happy, if you make your workers happy, they make the customers happy. I try to make my staff as happy as possible, and that shows in our 4.9 star review on google. If one or two people wrote a bad review it would bring the score down so much, but everyone who comes is treated like family.”
What is your favorite menu item
“The saffron chicken, we had to get that recipe perfect first before everything else, we had to figure out the supplier, the seasonings, what to marinate it in, it took months to get the recipe just right. I mean pages on pages of very small changes to make it perfect.”
Do you have any advice for people trying to start their OWN business?
“Don’t be afraid to take chances in life. In life I’ve made many many mistakes, but every time I try to learn something from it. Starting this business was a chance, but I put my all in it. I’m here six days a week, and some days I wake up and think, I don’t want to do this, I should just quit, etc. etc., but you always have to keep going, no matter what.”
That advice can be used for so much more than just starting a business. The first time I met Mr. Hashim before he even knew I was writing a review on his restaurant, he gave me and my dad a full tour of his kitchen, and this just shows how proud he is of his work. Getting to interview Mr. Hashim was an eye opener of how local family businesses come to be, and I can’t thank him enough for this opportunity.
(P.S My sister REALLY likes the pistachio kulfi and said EVERYONE needs to try it.)
