ChocoZein Cafe Finds Home In Uptown Saint John
SAINT JOHN- An entrepreneurial family who came to Saint John as refugees is finally fulfilling one of their dreams of opening a business.
ChocoZein Cafe will be opening Friday at the historic One Princess Street in uptown Saint John.
The cafe is run by Yamama and Zein Al abdin, came to Saint John from Eygpt as refugees three years ago with their three children. Over the past several years they have been operating a popular Syrian food stall, Machawi of Syria, which has become a staple at local markets such as The Saint John Night Market and the Queen Square Farmers Market.
Zein says the plan was always to open a physical location and after a few false starts, they finally secured the perfect spot.
“Our customers keep asking about our permanent location and we tried to find a permanent location in the uptown area because we love this area of Saint John. I’ve tried three different times with three different locations but all of them failed for some reason,” he says.
“Finally, we found this spot. It’s not enough to have a full restaurant, so we decided we had to start at some point, so we thought it was good to start with a coffee shop in a nice area and a nice building.”
ChocoZein Cafe will serve both Arabic and Canadian coffee to drink in-house or to-go as well as a variety of desserts, many of them made with their award-winning chocolate. The cafe may also eventually carry souvenirs for visitors.
Machawi of Syria will still be selling its more hearty food on the local market circuit, but Zein says the goal is to eventually open a full restaurant. The cafe is just the first step in reaching that goal.
“In the future, maybe I will apply for a licensed kitchen, get more equipment, improve my services here and find another place in the uptown,” says Zein. “I don’t know yet, but I have a bigger plan to start a full restaurant.”
He hopes the cafe will help reach more Saint Johners and help them build more relationships in the community. But he also hopes it will be another place for visitors to enjoy in uptown Saint John.
“We hope we can encourage them to come here and spend more time here, rather than going to other cities or other provinces to have their fun,” he says.