ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – A team of workers scoot a coffee machine across a countertop. Beside them, boxes of Turkish candy and cookies wait for final placement.
Said and Mahmud Zatar join the group hauling the items and machines – hours before their latest business opens.
In Rockford’s Midtown District, the brothers prepare to open Olivo Deli Market: a small grocery store selling sandwiches, deli meats and home essentials. Hours before doors opened for a soft launch, they welcomed me into the store for a sneak preview.
“Everybody that’s in the community, we try to communicate with,“ explained Mahmud Zatar, who owns Olivo Deli Market with Said, his brother. The businessman said the community wanted a store offering necessities in Midtown.
“Cookies and all the good sweet stuff… Cheeses, and pastramis and turkeys,” Said listed of what will be featured in the market. “We got empty spots,” he mentioned of shelves yet to be filled. “We’re gonna ask the customers what else they want us to do.”
In 2018, the brothers started Olivo Tacos in Rockford; their food truck business has expanded into Rockford restaurant, and trucks stopping in Chicago, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Syracuse, New York.
Before serving tacos, the team began with a convenience store in Rockford.
“We always wanted to be a part of communities, but we didn’t know how to expand,” claimed Mahmud. With years of experience behind them, the Zatar’s believe they’ve cracked the code to a successful small grocery market: $5 sandwiches and $0.99 coffee.
“Our goal is to do something right for the community,” argued Mahmud. He suggested value is gained from appeasing suppliers, customers and employees; with that combination, the market can offer affordable prices and “show people that you could expand any business you have by helping communities, and communities will support back.”
The market will soon open at 321 Seventh St., within Ald. Jaime Salgado’s 11th Ward.
“It kind of fits what we’re trying to do, which obviously is bring back businesses‚” says Salgado of the deli finding a home in Midtown. The lawmaker celebrates its opening as “one less empty storefront” in a neighborhood he describes as burgeoning and diverse.
Salgado also expects the deli to diminish the food desert found in southern portions of the city.
On July 21, Rockford City Council approved the Zatar’s proposal for the market, alongside a greenlight to sell some tobacco products. Before, a handful of council members shared their concerns about certain products affecting surrounding neighborhoods.
Salgado claims he found a compromise between the business and lawmakers: the deli will follow 10-12 conditions prohibiting the sale of vapes or pipes, while most cigarettes will be allowed.
“It changed a lot of perspectives and made everybody kind of feel a little bit more, ‘Ok, this makes sense,’” said Salgado. He added other council members see the agreement as a model for similar businesses elsewhere in the city.
The Olivo Deli will open its doors on Monday, July 28; it’ll operate between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Mahmud calls this a soft launch – an official opening is planned for late-August.
“We want to build new entrepreneurship for other people that have an idea to take a risk and take a chance in Rockford,” he contended.
First responders are welcome to free coffee at the deli.
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