Local chef & restaurant owner pivots during COVID-19

Avi Shemtov is a busy man these days. Depending on how you count, he’s involved with at least seven enterprises. As a chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur, he naturally has to work hard to maintain his businesses in good financial health, but especially so in this time of coronavirus restrictions. It is his passion for food — both serving it to people and introducing them to new cuisines — that motivates him to keep trying new things.

Steven Peljovich from Michael’s Deli drops off latkes for a food share.

Shemtov has come a long way since opening his first restaurant, Chubby Chickpea, on Washington Street in 2010. His goal was to popularize Israeli street food through onsite service and his Boston-oriented food truck. The food truck part of the business took off and grew faster than the restaurant, and Shemtov moved commissary operations to his current base on Jackson Street.

He next opened a new restaurant, Simcha, in Sharon, where he serves what he describes as “progressive Israeli cuisine.” Shemtov has a strong connection to Israel through his father, whose family had emigrated there from Turkey; Simcha’s eclectic cuisine particularly reflects a Turkish influence. The restaurant has done well since its opening in spring 2019. However, with the oncoming pandemic, Shemtov decided to play it safe and closed Simcha three days before Governor Baker’s mandate that restaurant table service cease in mid-March.

As difficulties and fears associated with pandemic grocery shopping mounted, Shemtov heard inquiries from friends and family about alternate sources for food. He realized that he might be able to help people out — but only if enough people were interested. A few Facebook posts later, Shemtov had a long list of people excited about paying for a week’s share of groceries at cost. He set up parallel systems in Sharon and Canton, with pick-ups on Tuesdays at Simcha and on Wednesdays at Chubby Chickpea.

About 210 food share participants in Sharon sign up each week, paying a $10 administrative fee, which Shemtov said allows him to pay his team salaries for a day. Weekly Canton participants number between 55 and 110. A full food share, which includes meat, fish, dairy, fruit, vegetables, and bread, costs an additional $70 to $80 each week. A vegetarian version (no meat or fish) is available for $50.

Shemtov has found that running the food share has given him back some of the excitement he normally gets from meeting restaurant customers. “I’ve met a lot of fun, creative people,” he said.

Formerly, he enjoyed many private conversations, but now he appreciates the food share emails and brief chats at pick-ups that enable him to connect. He described how one mother told him that green grapes in one week’s share helped her 7-year-old son feel happier about his online class.

Shemtov is proud of the food share. “I am blessed to help solve a problem,” he said.

But he noted that while running the food share helps with salaries and isn’t bad for the company, it’s not a real solution — and the number of participants has lately gone down. He continues food service, using several outlets. Food truck take-outs with varied menus are offered each Wednesday (in Canton) and Thursday (in Sharon); he has also offered occasional food pop-up events in combination with his beer truck, Tapped.

Most recently, Shemtov re-opened Simcha with outside seating on Friday, June 12. Serving 16 tables, he offered a regular menu plus a prix fixe dinner. He reported that while the operation went well, the evening was quiet, with about one third of the dinners served as pre-COVID nights. His hope is that as word spreads, business will increase.

“Generally, restaurants are the safest place you can eat,” he said. “Sanitizing and following health codes is normal.”

Shemtov has also continued to expand his food service business in new directions. He recently purchased a restaurant in Jamestown, New York, south of his mother’s hometown of Buffalo. Closer to home, a second restaurant is slated to open in August near Simcha. Named à la Esh, French-Hebrew for “on the fire,” it will serve Israeli-inspired southern barbeque. A new food truck, Arabes, will probably start sometime this summer. Shemtov explained that it will offer tacos arabes, which are popular in New Mexico and originally created by Lebanese immigrants to the southwest.

Finally, Shemtov is finishing his second cookbook, Simcha, to be released next spring. In the meantime, he does what he can to be cautious and make the right decisions for his “hardworking, smart team,” for his business, and for his customers. He loves expanding knowledge of culture, whether by following his father’s example of running a restaurant and encouraging people to think about food in a new way or by making connections and talking to people about racism. He described what he does as “above all else trying to connect.”

For more information about The Chubby Chickpea or Simcha, visit thechubbychickpea.com or simcharestaurant.com.

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Posted by Candace Paris on Jun 22 2020. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.