Maza Kabob placed number one on the Top 5 Asian Restaurants to eat at in Fort Collins with over 275 Yelp Reviews. In honor of them placing number one, I dug into the history of how Maza Kabob came to be.
Maza Kabob is a locally owned and operated, Afghan restaurant that serves authentic Afghan cuisine. They are a scratch kitchen and everything is made fresh, in-house to order. It was opened on September 9, 2011 by the owner Sayed Sayied, 59, and has been open and running since at 2427 S. College Ave. Maza means “tasty” in Farsi and was inspiration for the name of the restaurant.
Sayed Sayied is originally from Kabul, Afghanistan and came to the U.S. in 1981. He lived in New York for eight years before moving to Colorado at the age of 30 in December 1989. He has been living in Fort Collins ever since.
Why did you decide to come [to Colorado]?
When I came to visit my uncle, I met my wife. She was my uncle’s friend. My uncle and her father were all Afghan. They came here [together in the] late 60s early 70s and they knew each other and they stayed together. I came to visit and then I saw her, and then we [got] engaged and then we married. She moved to New York for one year. The two times I came to Colorado, it’s very similar to Kabul. Especially the weather in Kabul and the mountains and everything. And I like it, so I moved to Fort Collins.
Why did you decide to open up Maza Kabob?
Before that I had a hot dog cart. When I moved to Fort Collins from New York I wanted to open a business and mostly a restaurant because I have experience [with] restaurants. It’s a long story with my family. And others things were I didn’t have enough money. Then I worked with Taco Bell for a couple years. And then I always was thinking about business business business. Finally, I quit Taco Bell and started a hot dog cart. That was the only thing I could afford in that situation. And it was in Downtown Denver, not in here [Fort Collins]. And I was commuting from Fort Collins to Denver [for]17 years, every day. Then after that look at me I’m so old now. Actually the hot dog cart made me old, I was a young boy.
Oh, but you’re not that old?
I’m under 100, that’s good. I not go over 100, that’s a good point.
[Why did you decide to open up Maza Kabob?]
And then I had to do something because I was working outside minus 10 degrees [fahrenheit]. I was outside. Minus 20 degrees [fahrenheit] I was outside. Commuting from Fort Collins to Denver was a bad situation and like the traffic was so bad, icy roads and this [and that]. Finally, I decided to do something. Again something like a restaurant. And then I researched and researched and researched for two years [while] I was working there, but my mind was here. What to do? How to do it? What to do? How to do it? Then I decided and made up all my plans. I had enough time when I was selling hot dogs. During the rush time I was busy otherwise I was sitting in a chair. Most of the time I was reading a paper or something and [at] that time [in] the last two years I was thinking about business. I had a book like you [I had a notebook]. I wrote down so many different ways to, you know, to start. I went all around this area [Fort Collins] to check the menu and everything on what kind of food. And then I said “Oh my gosh. Afghan restaurant would be perfect.” That’s why when I opened my restaurant, it was about a month and a half or two months a customer came and asked me ‘You know something’, honest to god I was not even aware of it, [the customer] said, ‘You are number one supervisor.’ From nowhere people like it and just write to you and ask about our service or food delivery and everything. And then we became number one. From that point, that’s a big support for me. Yelp and Trip Advisor.
You mentioned and Afghan restaurant would be good, so I’m curious about how you came up with the menu. How did you come up with all the dishes?
Everything is Afghan food. All of them are Afghan food. But the thing is like if I have advice to Afghan restaurants. We have so many dish[es] with sauce, you know, saucey dishes. It’s not hard to make. They open a restaurant, they offer kabob and rice only. Nothing else. When you eat the rice, the sauce will make it much better. You enjoy it. It makes it kind of juicy. I, like I told you, I had two years to think about it because of my other job. Sometimes when you open up a business, you’re busy with other things. But I had time, enough time to just be sitting in a chair and I was not at home and I had to do something to keep myself busy. And this was the best way to keep myself busy because I was doing something for myself and creating things. And I had a book, I [would] write it down and again I talked about it, crossed that and and just renewed it. And I thought [of] all these dishes before I opened the restaurant. Before I opened the restaurant, all my dishes were like in my mind. To open this, this, this, and this. People will like it.
So it [the menu] was established already before opening the restaurant?
Oh yeah, yeah. All already was there. The only two things we, after that we brought were the mushroom kabob which is now number 48. Why I bring that is because I love mushroom[s] and when I go to restaurants with my wife and family, I order mushrooms. A few times I ordered mushroom and I eat it I say ‘God, they didn’t do a good job with this mushroom’ but I said, ‘But I like mushroom and I [can] do better than them’ and customers love it. And the last one is the shrimp, it’s a very very very new one just because people where asking about the seafood. We don’t have any seafood, we have seafood like we eat seafood, but we don’t have any ocean or like a big river or something, so it’s not mostly available.
Besides the mushrooms, do you have another favorite dish?
Ah yes. My favorite is the Burrani Eggplant.
That’s very nice to know. I do wonder, did you have any difficulties when you were trying to open up Maza Kabob?
Yeah by the time I was looking for a good location on major streets I was aiming more towards College and Harmony, but oh my gosh, the rent over there was smaller than this [the square footage] [cost about] 10 or 12 thousand dollars. And I did all my research, but not the rent. You know I thought the rent would be about $2500 or so, you know? Sometimes when we have imagination we can reduce [the price] it because it is rent. And I didn’t do any research on rent. Because I couldn’t believe it. I live in Fort Collins not on Wall Street in New York [and] not in Manhattan. And then when I knew about the rent I was so disappointed. But thank God I didn’t do my research because if [I did] before all my decision. Before all the decisions [of coming up with a restaurant], if I was looking for the real estate, I would just [have] cancel[ed] it because, no way. But after it, because I made my mind up, I said ‘I have to find a place’. I found a place right here, so nobody else can find me, you know. To hide it and I’m hiding from people, but thank god people find me, even you.
Ah yes, I did find you. Yelp was a huge help! Were there any difficulties when you first opened up the restaurant?
Any business is so difficult. So difficult. You’re so worried. Even with experience, you don’t have experience. You know because every situation is different. You have to just get ready for it, but I worked the first three months. I was here 6–7 in the morning to 12, 1 or 2 in the morning and again the next morning. Straight for seven days. I lost 15 pounds. My family was worried because I was the only one who know[s] everything and I didn’t have, I mean I had employees and workers and my wife and my family, but I was the one [who had] to take care of [everything]. But now my wife knows so much, my son knows so much, you know, the employees know so much, I know so much. But at that time it was me and everything else. It brings [causes] a lot of pressure on you. But since I was a young boy, my father had three businesses, this is back in Afghanistan, I was helping like my father, my father made me ready. I was helping him. It was not this kind of business. It was different, but still my father put me in work and I was good and I was ready for anything. But any situation, the restaurant is the hardest. Since we opened, I think 40 restaurants opened and closed since we opened. In six years.
Have there been any difficulties keeping your restaurant open? Like you experience time when customers don’t come at all or is it always busy?
I don’t say it’s busy. I’ve been in the food business; we are not busy. Super busy, but we survive. I didn’t, I made it you know. I would not think about to close if we are slow.
You seem like you know business very well, is there any advice to people that want to open up a restaurant or open up a business in general?
The biggest thing people should know; a lot of people think. Everybody. When people open business, even they don’t, research really good. A lot of them think, ‘Okay how much is my rent? How much is my rent?’ Yes, for everybody that is a big part. But it’s not only the rent. It’s not only the rent. If you only count the rent, [and say] I will only sell this much and I will be okay, but okay no. It’s so many expenses. So many expenses. Everything adds up. Something small. Like small things [you] didn’t even count on it you know. And also if you think the only things, the only things you think about is register [money], forget it? You have to think about your success. You want to succeed. Think about that. Which way. Don’t even think about register [money]. Especially for the first time, when you first open first. Grand opening. For the first few months or even the first few years. Don’t think about it. Be ready for it. Don’t open up the same restaurant where there are five or six of them over there, you know. But if it’s downtown in a very crowded then yeah. You know how many of this kind of food open up in Fort Collins and close, seven. I don’t know about more, maybe more. Seven of them opened and closed. They couldn’t make it. One of them came to me and said, ‘Brother, what’s your secret?’. I don’t have any secret. You have to watch every single thing. Food quality, food amount, customer service and clean this you know. I go to some restaurants they have like for example, 20 tables and eight of them are dirty. That’s not the good service. They don’t care. It’s my habit because I always want to help businesses. Honest to god, so many times I clean their sink, their mirror in the business. I did [this] many many many many times, in gas stations and restaurants. If you don’t, people see it, people see it. Success is a lot of things, you know.
That’s very good advice and all my questions seem to have been answered. So do you have any last things you’d like to tell the public about Maza Kabob? Just anything you want to say at all?
I love more judges. My customers are my judge. I love more judges. More customers more judges. And I promise you, they won’t be disappointed with one single dish from all of them. I promise. But they will find their favorite. And besides from kabob, eggplant and dumplings are very very popular dishes and people love it. And I don’t have any fear when they come and judge me. I don’t have any fear at all.
Maza Kabob is new. It’s different. It’s delicious. Make sure to check them out at their website, on their Facebook, or on their official Yelp.