The owners call Big City Food Diner "Kalamazoo's answer to quality urban grub at affordable prices." Kalamazoo calls it "delicious."
When Sal and Cindy Ami opened their restaurant in mid-February, they split duties--cooking, prepping, serving food and cashing out as well as administrative duties. In a week, they added a cook and a server to lighten their load.
"We still work a lot of hours," Sal Ami says. "Neither one of us makes money yet, but we are able to pay our employees and we broke even within the first couple of weeks. I was really surprised because in this industry, I always hear that it takes a couple of years to do that."
Sal, who learned much about food service from aunts and uncles in the business in Chicago, says he could have been more prepared for certain industry aspects, like marketing, accounting and inventory duties before opening the doors, but that lack of knowledge isn't hurting his cash flow.
"We're learning on the fly," he says. "I think sometimes that's the best way."
The Kalamazoo residents had been hopping to Chicago or Detroit for fast food tastes of the big city since arriving in 2008. When they grew tired of it, they brought the urban tastes right smack in the middle of the two cities and began whipping up Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches made from hand-sliced rib eye, authentic Italian beef sandwiches and big city tacos, gyros, Coney dogs, olive Burgers, Chicago red hots and Maxwell Street Polish sandwiches. Entrees include catfish, pork chops and tilapia.
Varieties of breakfasts round out the morning menu and diners have their choice of hard-to-find restaurant desserts like banana bread and red velvet cake.
"We really put love into our food and everyone who tries it loves it because they tell us," Ami says. "That's a great thing to hear."
Writer: Kelle Barr, Second Wave
Source: Sal Ali, co-owner, Big City Food Dinner
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