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Recipe for success
Ghossain’s Mid East Bakery marks 40 years of deliciousness
By Karl Henkel
BOARDMAN
If you’ve eaten anything on pita bread in the Mahoning Valley, chances are that bread was made at Ghossain’s Mid East Bakery.
Downtown Circle and The Lemon Grove Caf on Federal Street in downtown Youngstown get their flatbread from Ghossain’s.
Stonebridge, Cassesse’s MVR and Inner Circle also are prominent local restaurants supplied by the restaurant.
Its products are available at Giant Eagle, Sparkle and IGA.
But Ghossain’s reach doesn’t end there.
Its customer base stretches from Cleveland to Akron to Pittsburgh.
New customers have popped up in New York, including Pita Grill, operated under the popular Hell’s Kitchen name.
Ghossain’s has not only delivered to big cities but also to big names such as the late Bob Hope, Martha Stewart and fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.
There are many big names linked to the Mediterranean restaurant, a third-generation business at 3990 South Ave., but the notoriety didn’t come without tough times and hard work.
Ghossain’s has done it for years — 40 of them, in fact — building its menu the same way it built its business — from scratch.
“It hasn’t been easy work,” said Fred Ghossain, 64, whose father, Joseph, first opened the shop in 1971. “But we were never afraid of work.”
Fred now runs the store with his son, Joseph.
What started as a small, family-owned business with $1,000 worth of secondhand equipment at 22 E. Philadelphia Ave. on Youngstown’s South Side has slowly but steadily grown into another Mahoning Valley landmark.
Joseph Ghossain first had the idea to open the store four decades ago, Fred said, because of a void in the marketplace.
He wasn’t the only one who thought the bakery was a good idea.
Fred, who at the time was working as an engineer, jumped at the chance to start a family business.
It started with the flatbread, still the staple of Ghossain’s 40 years later.
“We were doing it even before people knew what flatbreads were,” Fred said, noting the fresh, local ingredients used in all of Ghossain’s recipes.
But it developed into so much more than just a bakery.
As customers became loyal to Ghossain’s baked goods, orders grew, and soon Joseph and Fred outgrew the Philadelphia Avenue location.
Fred said the growing popularity of Mediterranean diets, which consists of legumes, cereals, fruits and vegetables, led to the business boom.
“It’s been growing since the ’70s,” he said. “But its really picked up the last few years.”
Fred said they were interested in acquiring a nearby facility but couldn’t come to an agreement with the city, prompting the move to Boardman, where the family bought a 3-acre plot just off Midlothian Boulevard in 2004.
The move came with an upgrade — new baking equipment from Lebanon — which is a necessity now that the business plows through 2,000 pounds of flour per day.
It also has a deli with fresh recipes, a sit-down eating area and Ghossain’s whole line of baked goods.
“We’re basically the Mediterranean version of Chipotle,” said Joseph, 36, referring to the popular Mexican restaurant.
It hasn’t been easy, Fred said, especially with the slow economy the last few years, but he didn’t discount another 40 promising years for the business, which also has a satellite location near state Route 46 and U.S. Route 422 in Niles.
“[Joseph] has three kids,” he said. “Who knows when the next generation will take over?”