How a TEDx speaker from Turkey has been managing his food company in the midst of the pandemic

Interview with Ozkan, founder of Turkitch.

Turkitch Location: 565 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL
Website: https://turkitch.us/
Founded: 2016

Tell us a little about yourself and your business

I won the green card lottery. This September it will be 5 years since I came to the US from Turkey. Before I came here, I was a marketing guy, speaker. Back in Turkey I was invited to TEDx to talk about startup businesses 3 times.

When me and my family moved to the United States, my wife and I started living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We began making Turkish food in our kitchen and selling. In 40–45 days after starting this business, we have received 50–55 orders from various customers — churches, mosques, friends. The volume of orders gradually increased, and we decided to bring various equipment from Turkey to expand — I have lots of connections back in Turkey, and my network in Turkey helped me to expand here in the US.

We started to ship our prepared food to various locations in the US. In fact, most of our customers are outside Chicago, we ship to California, Michigan, Florida, Texas… Around that time we opened this Chicago location to introduce a turkish dine-in experience to the local consumers.

After we opened the dine-in restaurants, we still ship food to out-of-state locations every Tuesday and Friday. I developed the boxes that are filled with ice to maintain low temperature. I load those boxes with the food and ship to those mentioned locations.

The main goal of this business is to create the first Turkish franchise in the US. At this moment, we have three locations: Lakeview, Raffaello Hotel and French Market. In two years we have received 73 applications for a franchise! It has been very exciting!

What is special about the food you make and what are the most popular products?

I never follow the recipes. I create the recipes for desserts myself. What makes my food unique is my attitude towards the health of my customers and the ingredients I select. Most people, for example, normally use the sugar for the desserts. I use natural fruits instead, because fruits are sugary. Why would I add sugar knowing that it’s not healthy? I have a son who is almost 2 years old. I care about what he eats, and for my customers I make the same type of healthy food that I would like my son to eat. In this neighborhood lots of our customers are families with the children, and by cooking healthy food I make my commitment to their health.

Most popular products in Turkitch are Suberek, Baklava and Sujuk. Our customers also like Pita (flatbread). Locals sometimes call it “Pizza”:, but we are true to authentic Turkish flavors. In fact, we ship many ingredients directly from Turkey. I think that’s what sets us apart from our competition that changes the recipes to adapt to the US.

We also have vegan and vegetarian options. These few items are the favorites of our customers.

You mentioned that you now have multiple locations. How do you find time to manage all three locations?

It is hard! If you asked this question 7–8 months ago, I would say that we were on the brink of bankruptcy. We were close to shutting down the business…. My wife has started to work in this restaurant, because otherwise she couldnt see me. I work 15–16 hours a day, but at the end of the day we were looking at our cash register and there was barely anything left.

This business is not a “one man show”, and that’s how we were able to survive. It is important to have powerful team members who are self starters and can fully dedicate themselves to the success of the company. I rely on my team a lot. One of my team members, for example, has started working for me back in Turkey, and when he came to the US, I offered him to continue our collaboration. He has since been working with me in Turkitch.

My daily routine is to come early in the morning to this location (Lakeview), check the equipment, make sure we have all the supplies, and then go to the Raffaello Hotel location and do the same thing. I have to meet with the customers, ask for their feedback. After that I talk to a PR company and marketing agency (which are my partners who are located in Turkey). I am also involved in cooking the food. At this early stage I have to be involved in each and every part of the business.

You mentioned that you were close to shutting down the business. How did you escape the bankruptcy? What changed the situation?

We opened a French Market location at that time. I had to revisit the team that was working in that location. I had to change more than half of the employees. I am an owner of this business, but I am not setting myself as a boss. Back in Turkey, on TEDx shows my main topic was about leadership. And I taught the audience not to be a boss, but to be a leader. And I take the same approach in managing Turkitch. I tell my employees that this business is not mine, it is ours.

I hired new people and asked them to work as they would in their own place. All my employees know that if they do well, the company will do well, and this is an opportunity for all of us to earn extra. Every employee of Turkitch has stock options in the company. I do profit sharing with my employees, because we earn together. 8 months ago the business was not going well. I think a more thorough approach in selecting the right people was the key point in the survival of the business.

What were the challenges after the COVID pandemic was announced?

After the pandemic began, the French Market location and Raffaello hotel location shut down. I had to furlough many of my employees because we did not have enough income. Three of us had to do the work of 8–11 people. I applied to the small business loan provided by the government, but I did not receive it. Actually, many of the small businesses that I know were not able to receive the government relief funds.

At Turkitch we couldn’t even pay the rent to our landlord, so I offered to pay 25%. He insisted that we must pay at least 50%, but we just couldn’t afford it. It was just the beginning of the pandemic, but our landlord shut down hot water. My car got towed from the parking spot because it was part of the rent. The landlord called the towing company and asked to tow my car. I had to deal with these problems besides running the business.

That time I told my furloughed employees: “I cannot pay you, but I can offer you some food instead so at least you won’t have to worry about food”. And all the money the company earns — I still share with my employees, including those who were not working because of the COVID.

Gradually more and more people started walking around the neighborhood. Lots of them never knew about our restaurant before. People explored the neighborhood, tried our food, and they liked it! If we compare the time prior to COVID and now, our business is definitely doing better. Importantly, I have my employees back at work.

Even though the whole situation with COVID-19 is challenging, I learned how to act in critical situations that have never happened to me before. I always try to find positive things in every situation.

At this moment we are slowly recovering, but as for the rent, I am scheduled to pay the full amount next month. It will be very hard, but I hope we can make it.