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

Burak, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Firstly, we focus on our team and the people we hire as part of the Ferah brand. The restaurant industry has a pattern of high turnover, and while we’ve seen some, we have also had team members who have been with us since our first year of business, including peak pandemic. At Ferah, we believe in helping our employees grow their skills and industry knowledge and do our best to promote within whenever possible so that our team members have a better understanding of various aspects of the business. We are team-oriented, often training employees on various tasks so we can step in and support each other when needed. This is critical as a small business.

As the owner, I will do any job as required because we are often hit with the unexpected. I’ll wash dishes, serve guests, place supply orders, have sales calls and do virtually every task. If you want to be truly successful in any business, you have to set your ego aside and be willing to do any job and continue to learn as your business grows.

We’ve hosted an annual holiday party since 2019, where we close our restaurant early so our team can enjoy a meal together, win prizes, share company updates/achievements, and present our employee of the year award. Each person plays a critical role in our restaurants and catering operations and it’s important to celebrate our wins and show appreciation. Many restaurants may not invest time and money in something like this due to turnover, but we feel its important to celebrate our people because they are the heart of the business.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a chef and restaurateur who co-founded the Ferah family of brands along with my wife, Stephanie, and our business partner, Jeremy Berlin: Ferah Hospitality Group, Ferah Tex-Med Kitchen (locations in Garland and Southlake), Ferah Catering & Events (serving DFW), and Ferah Smokehouse & Cantina (coming soon to Wylie). I grew up in Turkey and started working in luxury hotels across the Mediterranean at the age of 14. When I graduated at 18, I was offered a job at a prestigious hotel in Istanbul and I continued to focus my career in kitchens at luxury/full-service hotels until I moved to Texas in 2009. At that time, I worked with Chef Stephan Pyles at various restaurant concepts and fell in love with Southwestern cuisine. It was always my dream to own a restaurant, so after working in full-service hotels in DFW, I decided to focus on bringing my dream into reality. In 2016, I created and piloted a brand new cuisine: Tex-Med (modern mediterranean with a Texan Twist). Tex-Med encompasses my heritage of Mediterranean food and my love of Texas/Southwestern cuisine. Our hotel clients loved my concept and in 2018, we started building our first brand, and Ferah Tex-Med Kitchen opened in June 2019. My wife and I moved to the suburbs in 2017 and were tired of having to drive 20-30 minutes for an upscale experience. That’s one main reason we chose to open our first restaurant 10 minutes from our house, in our very community. We knew others were craving something new in the area too.

Creating a new cuisine has not been easy, because many assume that Tex-Med is a typo (we wouldn’t expect anything less in Texas where Tex-Mex is king). Those who haven;t tried Mediterranean food before can be hesitant, but once they try our cuisine they absolutely love it and we have a very high percentage of repeat customers. Often, we’ll see someone order the burger during their first visit and then they try one of their friend’s gyro tacos, and they’re hooked and we have opened their eyes to a new cuisine.

I am most proud of how inclusive our menu is. My goal is to have something for everyone on my menu: the meat lovers, vegetarians, low-carb, gluten-free friendly, and vegan. It can be difficult to find a restaurant and menu where everyone in your group can find something to eat. I am very confident we have a dish for everyone and that’s why Ferah is such a popular choice for group dinners and special occasions.

We also provide full-service catering and bar services for weddings, corporate events and social occasions. We’ve won industry awards from Zola, the Knot and Wedding Wire for our high level of service. We are determined to change the reputation of wedding food: it doesn’t have to be boring and bland! It can be delicious and creative. Our clients appreciate the ease of Ferah managing both their catering and bar services: less vendors to manage. Building trust with our clients is so important to us and we’re grateful to all who have chosen us for special occasions.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We opened our first restaurant in June 2019, and just 8 months later the world shut down for COVID-19. It was a scary time, both personally and professionally, as just two weeks prior we learned my wife and I were expecting a baby. We were so excited about this new chapter, only to be met with a lot of uncertainty about our new business. There was so much unknown, but we knew we had to pivot our business to survive.

Thankfully, we had grown a very loyal customer base in our first 8 months of opening. Our reputation for outstanding food and service, plus being local community members, encouraged our customers to place to go orders and purchase gift cards. Just a week prior to the shut down, we had started the process of setting up online orders. Talk about perfect timing! We quickly worked to integrate the new system, pivot our marketing strategy, develop communication plans with employees and customers, and create takeout specials. I am grateful to my wife, Stephanie, and her years of corporate communication that helped us navigate the uncertainty both internally and externally.

We strongly believe that we survived the pandemic because we focus on three things at Ferah: delicious, high quality food, five-star customer service, and stunning ambiance. If an establishment has great ambiance but lacks delicious food, it is difficult to transition to a takeout only business model. Our commitment to high quality food allowed us to stand out and our customers felt it was worth the additional delivery fees. We also expanded our in-house delivery radius during the pandemic to encourage more orders and keep our employees’ earnings higher.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth has been the #1 marketing source for us, when we ask new customers how they heard about us. Customers love bringing their friends and loved ones to Ferah! I would say the second best source for new clients is local Facebook groups and paid ads. Our communities in Garland, Southlake, and surrounding areas have been so excited to support us and spread the word. We often share our special events and holiday menus in local Facebook groups and it’s met with such excitement. We are truly grateful for our wonderful community! We’ve seen high conversion rates for targeted, paid ads on instagram and facebook.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ferahtexmed.com, www.ferahcatering.com, www.ferahsc.com, www.ferahhospitality.com
• Instagram: @ferahtexmed @ferahcatering @ferahsc