Eatery eagerly expanding

Hot Harry's is finding success - even in tough times
By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Wednesday, December 24

PITTSFIELD - While some businesses falter, Hot Harry's Fresh Burritos continues to thrive.

The fast-food chain, which will celebrate its fifth anniversary in January, opened its sixth restaurant earlier this month. The new restaurant, located in Schenectady, N.Y., is the chain's second in New York's capital region, joining another eatery in East Greenbush, N.Y., which opened in 2007. Hot Harry's also has two restaurants in Pittsfield, one in Lee, and another in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"It's not easy," Hot Harry's owner Samir Abdallah of Pittsfield said, when asked how his business keeps growing in these tough economic times.

But Abdallah said his product - reasonably priced, tasty food - is geared to last through the economy's ups and downs. He said his offerings may differ from those found at fast-food giants such as McDonald's, but - like McDonald's - he believes the product is, "is somewhat recession-proof."

"My feeling is that families are going to want to enjoy themselves," he said. With menu selections as low as $7, along with a $5 value meal, it's hard for consumers to argue with the price. "We're at the price range where it's very attractive to everyone."

Hot Harry's clientele range from the elderly to adults to teenagers, to preschoolers, Abdallah said. His restaurant on North Street, which opened in 2006, frequently attracts students from Pittsfield High School on Advertisement lunch break.

Of the chain's six restaurants, Abdallah owns the North Street and Schenectady eateries himself. He sold the Tyler Street restaurant to his uncle, Faisal Ali of Dalton, who heads the Angelina's Submarine chain, and helped start Hot Harry's.

The three other restaurants are franchises under different ownership. The owners of the Iowa restaurant discovered Hot Harry's online while searching for different fast food options, Abdallah said. He met with the prospective owners, and they bought into his concept.

The chain isn't done expanding. Abdallah said he'd like to focus future expansion efforts on the Northeast, particularly the Albany, N.Y., Springfield, and Connecticut markets, before expanding further into the Midwest.

"The competition is so much more in the South that I want to protect our own market," he said.

Born and raised in Pittsfield, the 37-year-old Abdallah moved to Ocean City, Md. in the mid-1980s, and worked at an Angelina's sub shop that his mother ran there. After graduating from high school in Maryland, Abdallah attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, where he majored in marketing with a minor in management.

Abdallah then worked for Georgia Pacific in customer sales before deciding to come back to Pittsfield and open his own restaurant; something he said was always a personal goal.

Abdallah and his uncle began formulating the concept that became Hot Harry's two years before the first store opened on Tyler Street in 2004. Abdallah describes the relationship between uncle and nephew as "yin and yang."

"He's old school, I'm new school," Abdallah said. Ali knew who to talk to in the Berkshire to get the business started, plus had relationships with the local banks and purveyors, Abdallah said.

"I had more experience in the day-to-day operations," said Abdallah, who now runs the chain with his 31-year-old wife, Maggie, an Atlanta native.

After the Tyler Street restaurant opened on Jan. 5, 2004, Hot Harry's opened its second restaurant, in Lee, the following year. The North Street restaurant opened in early 2006, and the East Greenbush and Iowa eateries followed last year.

Instead of selling a traditional fast-food item such as pizza or burgers, Abdallah said he decided on burritos, "because it's the hottest concept out there right now. I love the food as well."

He said the restaurant in Iowa, was "hit hard" by other similar fast food chains, but that Hot Harry's has an advantage "because we still do most of our cooking in-house."

The chain's newest restaurant in Schenectady was supposed to open in August, Abdallah said, but the couple got "cold feet" while having their second child and put the decision on hold for awhile.

"I don't think there's ever a good time to open," Abdallah said, when asked why he decided to open the restaurant during the current economic climate. "There's always going to be something."

But he said the couple had already gone through the planning process for the Schenectady restaurant before putting the project on hold, which made the decision to open the new eatery easier.

The Schenectady restaurant has exceeded expectations so far, he said.

"It opened the day that Union College closed (for the holidays)," Abdallah said. "We've had no catering, but it's exceeded our expectations even without that."

Tony Dobrowolski can be reached at: Tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com (413) 496-6224