Martin: Hello Alon, we are very excited to interview you and find out about
your childhood, your family, your business, and your future plans.
Aivan: Please tell us about your childhood and where did you grow up?
Alon: I was born not too far from where Adib is from. Do you know where that
is? He's from Lebanon and I'm from the country right south of it which is
called Israel; and that's where I was born a long time ago, in 1965. You know
how long that was? A long time; it was 57 years ago. I was raised there until
the age of 9, we moved to California; so I spent some time in California and
then we went back to Israel, and then went back to New York. So I was always
back and forth, back and forth between the United States and Israel. But this
time around I've been here for the past 16 years and lived on Roosevelt Island
for the past… almost eight years.
Le Minh: When and why did you move to Roosevelt Island?
Alon: So we lived on the Upper East Side which is right across the water, and
we didn't know much about Roosevelt Island. We were looking for an apartment;
we had just enough money to buy an apartment and we came and the amount of
money that we had was not enough to buy anything basically in Manhattan, and
one day we saw a little ad here. There was, at Roosevelt Island, a nice
apartment for sale. We came here; we saw it; it was affordable. We loved the
place from the second we walked on this island; we said it was so cute, and
quiet, and then nice. And that's it… I guess our destiny showed us that we
were going to live here.
Esther: Please tell us about your education.
Alon: I went to the University of “Life”. Do you know what the University of
“life” is? It doesn't work for everyone but it does work sometimes. I have
what they call ADHD if you guys know what that is: Attention Deficit
Hyperactive Disorder; meaning I'm very fidgety and my concentration levels
especially in school, and especially if something that I wasn't really into,
did not last very well.
I was an okay student, very okay, very mediocre. I was not a good student. I
found out later on in life that my way of learning is by observation, which is
very important to learn. We have to learn so if you're good in school and you
can understand, and you don't have any issues that prevent you from learning,
then school is the way to go. My wife is a teacher and she enforced
this.
The way I was able to learn is not through the university - I did go to three
different universities- I tried and I dropped out after three months because I
just couldn't do it. My way of learning, like I said, is by observation, and
believe it or not, a lot of this I learned.
1) I am third-generation in this in the food business, so my dad had a lot to
teach me.
2) I've worked with a lot of chefs in kitchens and restaurants and hotels, and
stuff like that. I learned from experience by hands-on work.
Believe it or not -and this is something no one wants to hear today- but
YouTube taught me a lot also there are a lot of professional people on YouTube
who taught me a lot also. There are a lot of professionals on YouTube that
taught me. Any interest that I had that I wanted to know … especially like
making sourdough.. I did not go to baking school I kind of heard professional
people explaining and lecturing and then took it to my corner and
experimented. Through experimentation, I learned. So that's my education.
Orion: Are you married and do you have children?
Alon: I am married for the second time. I have three children and my wife has
one so we kind of combine the families together so we have four -I wouldn't
call them children because my youngest is 19 so she's already an adult, and my
oldest is 29. They're still children, but they're big children.
Martin: What made you open this restaurant and why specifically the
Mediterranean cuisine?
Alon: Ooh good question on that one. Okay, so I've been doing Mediterranean
Cuisine forever. Like I said I'm third generation… my grandma started in
Israel before it was even Israel. It was still the state of Palestine under
the British mandate -I don't know if you guys ever heard about that. Before
1948 she already had a restaurant and my dad was I would say the number-one
restaurateur in Israel in the past, from the 1970s probably to the early
2000s. He was really big and famous in Israel as a professional. I learned a
lot from that.
I moved to New York 15 years ago to open up places that serve Falafel and at a
certain point, we had 14 of them; from Philadelphia, to New Jersey, even in
the city. I had food trucks. I had everything. We were struggling to make
money because we weren't selling meat; my partner was vegetarian by religion,
and we could not sell meat. The culture here asks for meat. People want to
have their meat. We were basically not making money, so we ended up with just
a couple. I added meat to them; they were very successful!
Then the pandemic hit. When the pandemic hit they all got destroyed in one
day. My restaurants were in Midtown; nobody was in Midtown for six months. The
landlords were still expecting rent. I could not pay the rent so I gave them
back the keys. That was it! Right after that, I opened up a restaurant in New
Jersey. I signed that deal right when the pandemic hit and then I built it and
opened it through the pandemic. But the commute there was just too long; an
hour and a half each way driving sometimes. It was exhausting. I didn't want
to do it. I made my partner buy me out. I told him “if you don't buy me out,
I'm going to shut it down”. So he was scared; he bought me out. I wanted to
work close to home.
I live across the street and I opened this thing over here. It was available.
The reason I did Mediterranean Cuisine? I wanted to do a bakery; only a
bakery. I didn't want to do Mediterranean anymore because I've been doing
Mediterranean for 30 years already, and I'm kind of over it. I wanted to move
on in life and my wife persuaded me to do something that would be easy for me.
She said “you do this with your eyes closed, why do you want to experiment on
new things?” So I did the Mediterranean. But the fire in me was still burning
to make the bakery… so this is where we are right now. I know we need a bakery
on the Roosevelt Island and I love baking bread and that is why I’m here in
this Mediterranean place!
Aivan: How do you plan your menu and do you change it? If so, how often?
Alon: menu planning comes, I think, from experience and demand. You want to
hear what the customers are saying. So if a lot of customers are coming in and
saying “do you have Falafel and you say no no no no no. You've got to want to
have Falafel because that's the demand. So you kind of always put yourself in
a position where the market is asking for. Because if you want to sell
something that the market has no desire for, you’re not going to sell much. If
I'm going to sell purple hats that say “I love Alon” on them, I don't know how
many people want to buy them. But if I sell a hat that says Roosevelt Island
is the best place in the world, maybe more people will want to buy them. It
all depends on what people are looking for. So I assumed that Mediterranean
food would work here because there's no Mediterranean food on the island. That
is where I decided on this menu and then I use my repertoire of things that I
know how to make and make them downstairs.
Speaking about that, let's go downstairs. I'm just going to wash my hands. you
guys probably waiting on the table so we can sit and actually try this food
and we'll continue with the questions there all right
Le Minh: It seems you have recently started baking and selling bread as well.
Please tell us about that.
Alon: Okay so you see right here (pointing to small bulletin board)… well
right now it's about half full but I got more breads about to go in. this is
something that we're missing on the island. Like I said before, I wanted to
open a bakery before I did a Mediterranean, and my wife persuaded me otherwise
if you remember that. But as we went into business I saw that we do need a
good fresh bread here; my passion always is making bread and it couldn't hurt
the revenue because Mediterranean food is great food but not everybody
understands that, but everybody understands what bread is.
Le Minh: if you want to walk us through the bread and tell us about them?
Alon: Sure. We have different kinds of bread. Usually, the menu will be right
here; whatever is available (card) will be flipped the right side up, and
whatever is finished for the day we flip it to the other side. Here we got
some sourdough, some Israeli Hala what we call, some seeded white loaves over
there, and over here we got some whole wheat; the olives have finished for the
day, and we're about to put more baguettes into the oven.
Martin: (as he’s eating) This is the best restaurant!
Orion: How has business been? Are you considering delivery?
Alon: Winter was slow here. Nobody was eating out. But that was fine. Let’s
see where this will go but so far, we’re fine.
Orion: When did you start Uber Eats?
Alon: In the winter, but it is better when people come and eat here.
Esther: What are your favorite things about Roosevelt Island?
Alon: My favorite things… the community (and Adib). Those are the first two. I
think we have a wonderful place here and I think it's the best-kept secret of
New York! It's quiet; just quiet enough. The community is great, very
supportive. People are very nice here. It's safe here. I just love it. It's
beautiful here, we get to see the city, we get to see everything. We're in our
own little Island. Very accessible.
Orion: Do you consider the environment in your business?
Alon: Yes I do. We’re starting with the forks that you’re using; they are made
from corn. You see those plates, it is all from fiber that is compostable.
They make them from corn and sugar. This (plates) is made from sugarcane. The
straws that we have are made from corn. I tried as much as possible not to
have plastic but we do but plastic is the enemy.
Orion: So the people that make these, they make them out of compost?
Alon: After they extract the sugar from the sugarcane, they are left with a
lot of fiber. They make them with this fiber. They make these plates from the
fiber.
Esther: What else are you planning to do in your restaurant?
Alon: At this point, after adding the bakery, I don’t have further plans to
expand the restaurant. Maybe a couple of menu items in the future, but nothing
major.
Martin: Does your family help you in your business?
Alon: My family does help me when they’re needed and when they’re available.
Most of the time the employees that work for us. Occasionally, on vacations
and when they are available they help as well.
Aivan: What is a typical day for you?
Alon: A typical day for me is a day where -about 7:30 in the morning- I start
setting up the restaurant for the lunch service. At which point after lunch
service we prepare different foods and breads for the evening service. When
that evening service ends at 8:00 PM, when we close, we prepare for the next
day; we order vegetables, and other missing ingredients that we need for the
next day’s preparation. Lastly, at 9:00 PM – 9:15PM, I go home, have dinner,
relax, and start over.
Le Minh: Where do you see your business in the future?
Alon: So the mission for this business is basically where it is right now! We
like what we’re doing. We like the scale of it. We like the location. We like
the community. We want to make it a special place for Roosevelt Island and
Roosevelt Islanders. No interest right now to expand to other places. We want
to keep it the way it is.
Martin: Recently we met Cameron Koffman, Director of Constituent Services for
City Council Member Julie Menin, and he told us that they are working on a
“One Stop Shop” idea to help small businesses. When we met him, he told us
that she is also the Chair of Small Businesses. Have you been in touch with
their office?
Alon: I’ll tell you the truth, no. I haven’t heard anything. This is the first
time I’m hearing about this. I’m not too much involved in politics. I like to
do my own thing.
Martin: If you’re doing it by yourself, do you get any assistance from anybody
outside of your restaurant?
Alon: From the bank (shrugs). Usually, politicians help when we cannot afford
it or we cannot get access to something, and they send us help. Fortunately
for me, no. I was able to do things by myself. I built this restaurant by
myself. Whatever you see here, I built by myself. In six months I built this
step by step and (pointing to a customer) I have a witness here. (Turns around
and points to his wife) And here’s another witness.
