Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Daniel Dubbaneh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Daniel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Z&Z is all about making people feel at home through our favorite foods from our culture. For us, food is simply a vehicle for hospitality. So many people come up to tell us how proud they are of what we’re doing and how happy it makes them to see this cultural representation. When someone from the community says that something we do reminds them of home it’s really the ultimate compliment and what Z&Z is all about for us.

Daniel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We started Z&Z back in April of 2016. We had all grown up around restaurants, always had an entrepreneurial itch, and were looking for a way to connect with our culture. Z&Z was a culmination of these three things. One day our entire family was sitting around thinking of potential projects that allowed us to share our culture’s food with the world. After surveying the existing landscape we settled on our childhood favorite; the za’atar manoushe. At the time it was largely unknown and very hard to find in the U.S and we wanted people to love it as much as we did. So we decided to get started with one farmer’s market on Wednesdays at the Foggy Bottom Market in Washington, D.C.

Things started off slow but we hustled markets for 5 years – setting up and breaking down a tent and bringing all our equipment and ingredients with us back and forth to every single market. Over this time we developed a very strong community and following that helped us feel it was time to create a permanent home for Z&Z.

Since then, we’ve grown into a brick & mortar location that was recently named one of Bon Appetit’s 50 Best New Restaurants of 2022 and expanded to selling our spices and ready-to-heat manoushe at local Whole Foods and MOM’s organic locations.

What we’re most proud of is making these foods and these experiences available for all to enjoy.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Our parents knew firsthand just how grueling the food industry was and wanted us to stay far away. We almost never saw our dad when we were growing up because he was always at work at his restaurant and obviously our parents came to this country and sacrificed so much in order for us to have a better life. They wanted us to have comfortable jobs with plenty of free time and a reliable source of income. So they were very adamant about us not starting a food business.

However, over time they saw how much it meant to us and the amazing impact Z&Z was having on people and I think they’re now really proud of what we’ve accomplished. But they also know just how much hard work has gone into it because they’ve been right by our side for so much of it.

Starting your own food business means sacrificing nights and weekends, getting up before the suns out, and working almost non-stop. But it’s always worth it when you see the impact the experience you created has on people.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Our number one advice would be to make sure to foster your community in a genuine and sincere way. We could not be where we are today without the support of our community that has shown up for us time and time again.

We just started out by trying to have fun sharing our culture on social media and it worked because it was entertaining and it really resonated with people. Just like anything else you have to be consistent and work at something to get better. Over the years we’ve improved our skills when it came to story telling, video editing, filming, and participating in trends. All of this has contributed to creating content that makes our audience laugh or feel good about something. If you can do this people will be more likely to share your content with friends and this helps your audience grow.

Another aspect we think a lot of people miss is neglecting in person connections. A lot of the reason people follow us or share our story is because they know us from markets or events. We’re real people that they know and have seen grow over the years. That has been probably the number one key for growing our audience on social media is actually developing these relationships offline.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zandzdc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zandzdc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zandzdc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/82290562/admin/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/zandzdc?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/zaytzaatar
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/z-and-z-rockville-3
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@zandzdc

Image Credits
All photos taken by family members.