In this Restaurant Recovery episode, Todd Graves visits Curry Corner in Phoenix, Arizona.
Curry Corner is owned by Farah Khalid.
Phoenix and the surrounding cities are one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country.
To feed this ever growing population, there are thousands of restaurants.
If you want some of the best the city has to offer, skip the south-western and go for the south-Asian, at Curry Corner.
Farah Khalid and her family have been serving home-style cooking from Pakistan for over twenty years.
Located in an unassuming shopping center, the locals know it’s the place to go for fast, affordable and delicious food.
The city is now seeing cases of COVID-19 soaring into the hundreds of thousands.
Without help, Curry Corner might become another beloved restaurant lost, because of the pandemic.
The food they serve at Curry Corner is Pakistani cuisine.
All the food is traditional like the curries and the chapli kebab.
They are Farah’s own recipes that she used to cook for her kids.
Growing up, Omar and his sister moved around a lot.
They lived in many different countries.
Farah decided that they should have a more stable future.
She decided that they should move to the United States and go to college there.
In 2010, Farah’s husband sadly passed away.
He had a massive heart attack.
They opened Curry Corner in December 2010.
It was a very small space when they opened up.
They won a few awards in 2011 and 2012.
After her husband passed away, Curry Corner gave Farah her identity.
She feel it’s like a dream come true.
This was before the pandemic started in December 2020.
It was a very scary time for them.
In the first stages of lockdowns, they were down by 70% on their sales.
They can only go on for so long before they would be forced to close down.
Farah has put all of her effort into the restaurant and keeping it open.
She doesn’t want her dream to go away like this.
Todd says he will need to talk to Farah, Omar, and Ruyam to see if he can figure out how to get their sales back up.
Todd says he has heard about their legendary food.
He invites Rob Schneider to the restaurant to eat it with him.
Rob and Todd try the food and they love it.
Omar says they will have to close the doors by the end of the year if things do not get better.
They use a third party for deliveries.
Farah came to this country for the American dream.
Todd isn’t going to let that dream end because of a pandemic.
Todd loves the idea of Chai Corner.
The challenge Todd’s team faces is adapting the restaurant to a pandemic and beyond.
Ruyam says that it’s nice that they aren’t forgotten and somebody is out there to help them.
To them and set them up for growth, Todd will get Chai Corner open for business.
He will also curb their third-party delivery fees and create a comprehensive marketing plan.
To help with all the projects that Todd has planned, he brings in Zach Corbin.
Zach is Todd’s go-to guy for project management and marketing at Cane’s.
Before COVID-19, Curry Corner was predominantly a dine-in restaurant.
Todd wants to set them up with their own delivery system.
The team begins working on the restaurant.
It’s going to take a lot of work to get Chai Corner up and running.
Todd shows the family their new delivery car.
He tells them how Chai Corner is ready for business now.
Farah is so happy she can’t explain in words.
Omar cannot believe this is his.
Todd gives them a year supply of cooking oil.
He also set him up with a food distributor.
Todd says it is time to get the restaurant reopened.
Todd says that this could not have gone any better, for a more special family.
Farah says that this is a great blessing for her and she can’t even say how much relieved she is.
There was a lot of stress on their mind before Todd came.
Farah says she has a bright future ahead of her.
What Happened Next at Curry Corner?
Curry Corner is open.
Reviews are mostly positive.
Their tikka massala fries are highly reviewed.
There are some complaints about cleanliness and some food items.
Chai corner is highly reviewed but there are only two reviews I could find.
Farah was hopeful that trade would pick up more when the university students returned.
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