Many restauranteurs have grand ambitions for changing their local food scene with new foods and flavors, but almost all of them end up offering standard American staples like hamburgers, sandwiches and pizza.
Mohamed Fayed wants to put those two things together with his new eatery, Sizzles Burgers and Subs, in downtown Ypsilanti. He describes it as typical American fare with a Mediterranean twist.
"It will be burgers, subs and wraps with Mediterranean flavors," Fayed says. "It will be everything we are used to with fresh ingredients and a Mediterranean twist."
Sizzles Burgers and Subs is as much a new adventure for Fayed as it is a venture. The Dearborn resident came to the U.S. from Yemen at age six and grew up in Metro Detroit with family that had been here for generations. He graduated from Fordson High School in Dearborn, then the Michigan Institute of Aviation & Technology, and worked as a supervisor at
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems. Then he decided he wanted to be his own boss and open his own restaurant.
Fayed scanned Metro Detroit to find the right location. The right one for him turned out to be a tough one. He bought a small shoebox of a storefront in downtown Ypsilanti. 10 N Adams hasn't been occupied in the better part of a generation and it showed the day Fayed walked through it.
"It had a lot of clutter," Fayed says. "The ceiling had moisture. The paint was peeling. A lot of mold, but we have remediated that. It was just an all-around mess."
Fayed has cleared out the building with the help of his brother, Ali Fayed, and is working to take plans to the city for Sizzles Burgers and Subs this spring. The Fayed brothers are doing most of the work themselves to get it open.
"It's a big challenge," Fayed says. "There are a lot of hurdles we have to overcome."
But that doesn't mean the Fayed brothers haven't gotten a warm reception.
"I like the area," Fayed says. "Plus the people here are very friendly. They all came out and congratulated me."
Source: Mohamed Fayed, owner & operator of Sizzle Burgers and Subs
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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