I immigrated to America from Tunisia when I was 20 years old. I didn’t know how to start or where to go but I had a dream. I have always had a passion for food and cooking and wanted to some day be a successful restaurant owner. It has taken me many years, working countless odd jobs, learning the language, and simply struggling to survive to get to this point. Since opening my restaurant, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment to be able to feed people good food, at an affordable price, in one of the most amazing cities in the world.
I own a small soul food restaurant in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This particular part of the city is one of the poorest with the greatest need for resources and support. I wanted to open a restaurant that would cater to the community’s needs and provide food that not only tastes good but is affordable. It is also important to me to provide options that adhere to my customers varied dietary needs. My restaurant offers vegetarian, vegan meals. It is my goal to satisfy the needs of all my patrons that walk through the door and order online.
1. I need a bigger refrigerator and freezer so I can buy in bulk. Wholesale is much cheaper and I will save a lot of money and trips to the supermarket.
2. I need to make a menu that provides pictures of the food, because many people in the neighborhood cannot read. I also want to translate the menu into Spanish because I have a lot of Hispanic customers.
3. I need capital because the online delivery services (Eat24, Doordash, etc) pay me for deliveries only once every 2 weeks. I will need to replenish the food supply before getting paid from these services.
3000– purchase bigger refrigerators
1000– new signs and menus with pictures of our food
3500– food for deliveries
750– flyers to advertise around the Tenderloin