Last July, a massive fire in downtown Chapel Hill caused major damage to several beloved businesses – particularly Mediterranean Deli, which has been a staple in our community for more than 30 years.
Now, more than a year later, the recovery process is still ongoing – but Med Deli owner Jamil Kadoura says progress is being made every day. The deli reopened shortly after the fire at a temporary location on West Franklin Street, with catering services and food available for takeout – but Kadoura says he’s excited about getting back into Med Deli’s original location later this year.
97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with Jamil Kadoura last week. Click here to listen to their full conversation; the transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Aaron Keck: What should folks know about the current status?
Jamil Kadoura: It’s been a process. It’s been about a year, and now we’re projected to reopen around Christmas. It’s been lots of planning and engineering, and things that I’ve never heard of before – but now I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m really excited. And I miss my deli case.
I can tell you this: this community’s been unbelievable. The town of Chapel Hill has been awesome. Our fire departments are my heroes. And my employees – without my employees, honestly, it would’ve been hard to keep going. We kept most of them. It was difficult times, but you move on.
And you learn. I’m 63 years old, you’d think at 63 you’d know everything, but I learned so much with this. I learned, whenever you have darkness in your life, there is a gift for you in it – but you have to find that gift. (This) was a disaster for me. It wasn’t a business, it was like a home to me. But it’s good, and I’m excited. The steel is coming in on Monday, which is the big thing, and they say once the steel gets here, it is going to fly.
Keck: You mentioned the staff – how have they been managing?
Kadoura: You know, the average employee (has been with us) 12 to 14 years. When this happened, four days later, we opened at our temporary location, we designed a limited menu, and they stuck with me. I held them and they held me. You always say the people you work with (are) like family, but the fact is, they are family. And this proved it. As I said, whenever you have a disaster in life, there’s a lot of good things that come out of it, there’s positivity – even though you don’t see it, you need to reach for it, you need to look for it. And we became closer and closer.
I’ll tell you this really quick story. An employee of mine, his name is Elder – it’s common for us to say “I love you” in the Deli, man or woman. This guy never said “I love you” back to me. He always (just) says “thank you.” But one time when we moved to the new location – it was late at night, I said, “Listen, I’m really tired, I’m going home, I’m not as young as you are.” He said, “It’s okay. You can go home. It’s all good.” I said, “I love you, Elder” – and he said, “I love you, patrón.” I said, “Did you realize what you just told me?” He said, “I love you. Good night.”
So I drove home thinking about that statement, what he told me, and I’m thinking – they are family. And it’s very, very important that your employees feel part of the operation. It’s very important that you know their stories, and what they’re going through, and their inside life and their family. And I’m so blessed to have (these) employees. I would talk forever about these guys. They’re awesome.
Keck: That’s an amazing story. Do you have any other great stories about the community reaction?
Kadoura: The community reaction, it was unheard of. I knew we always had a good community here, (but) I just didn’t know how awesome they were. While the fire was going on, I saw this guy hugging my wife and my assistant. I was next to him watching the fire – and you have no idea what kind of state of mind I was in – and he said, “I’m doing a GoFundMe.” And I got defensive. I said, “No, no, no, we don’t need GoFundMe. This business is insured –” And he said, “It’s not for you, sir. It’s for your employees.” And that’s when I just – like, I couldn’t believe, it was a shock in my bones the first time. This community, the first night, I think they raised $140,000 while the fire was (still) going on. There were some students that couldn’t afford more, they gave $5 or $10. They wanted to participate.
Six days later, the total was $235,000. We asked Aaron Nelson (at the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro), we said, “Can you put this money in a special account for Med Deli employees?” He said, “I’ll be glad to.” So we established (that) with the Chamber. We still kept working our employees, but they didn’t work (the same hours) they used to. So we paid them (for) what they worked, and then the GoFundMe kicked in so they made (the same total) they used to make. For the first four months, our employees made exactly the same as they used to. And now we’re adding hours again…
What I want people to understand is without those employees, Med Deli would’ve never been where it’s at. So now it’s our turn to help – and Christmas is coming. We go back and we move on. We kept our skeleton. We kept the employees that wanted to stay. A few employees said, “I want to go look for something else,” but some employees came to me and said, “Listen, you’re going through a hard time. You don’t have enough work for everybody. I want to go find a job somewhere – and when you reopen, I’ll be back.”
It was amazing. The fire was bad, but everything around the fire was positive. And that’s what I want my kids to learn. That’s what I want my employees to learn. That’s what I want young kids to learn about life…
I went through some really hard times. As I said, this was never a business. It was a home. (But) I’m excited to see everybody’s faces. I miss my customers. A lot of customers I haven’t seen for a long time. I can’t wait. The look on people’s faces when they walk in, it’s so exciting. (And) mostly I want to thank the community for supporting us. One customer came and bought dinner from us, and he said, “I bought dinner for me and for my four neighbors, just to support you.” So our community, I love it. I thank you. I will always do what I used to do, which is support the community, support all kind of charities and stay involved.
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