It's bustling at the corner of Monroe Center and Ottawa in downtown Grand Rapids and the owners of the new Parsley Mediterranean Grille hope that the busy-ness will drive sales.
Ruby Kaskorkis says he and his brother Zaid launched the restaurant in Grand Rapids rather than their hometown of West Bloomfield because "when you look at the downtown city of Grand Rapids, you can only see positives and only see the city growing."
Ruby, 27, and Zaid, 21, hail from an entrepreneurial family and operated a deli in their parents' West Bloomfield-based Middle Eastern market – the precursor to Parsley Mediterranean Grill.
Set up in a cafeteria style, the restaurant aims to serve healthy food quickly for downtown workers who need to get back to work. The menu includes both chicken and beef kebobs, kafka, skewered beef shawarma, grilled and sliced chicken shawarma, falafel and seafood. Meals come with a choice of salad and a choice of rice, French fries, hummus or baba ganoush. A typical entrée is $8.99.
The restaurant seats 52 inside and 16 in the Monroe Center sidewalk dining area.
"We will have delivery and catering from day one," says Ruby. "Fast, healthy and affordable is our slogan for this restaurant."
"We actually live in downtown, we moved a few weeks ago," he adds. "We rented a condo for a year and it's very close to the store. We're not familiar with the Grand Rapids area and being a block away from the store will get us pretty familiar with the downtown."
Parsley Mediterranean Grille will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
Source: Ruby Kaskorkis, Parsley Mediterranean Grille; Ann Marie Bessette, Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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