What’s Taking Over Jaco’s Is Naan-ya Business
SAINT JOHN – A Saint John couple who have made a business providing fast, casual Pakistani food for the last three years is expanding to a new north end location this summer.
Robin and Tabraze Sheikh, co-owners of Naan-ya Business, acquired Jaco’s Restaurant earlier this month and both have been working hard at moving the business from the Saint John City Market to Jaco’s familiar location at 231 Churchill Boulevard.
In a social media post to restaurant followers on June 3, Jaco’s founder Jack Khoury noted he was in the process of finalizing the sale of the pizza and donair favourite, while taking the time to thank his patrons for their service over the past six years.
Two weeks later, the deal was official, with Khoury announcing he had sold his business — to Naan-ya Business.
“With the business changing hands — you may be concerned if the quality and the food and menu will be the same,” wrote Khoury to his followers. “Don’t worry, I put my full trust in Tabraze and Robin and I fully believe they will put the same love and experience into the business the same way you know and love,” he stated.
The announcement came after Robin and Tabraze began scaling back hours at Naan-ya Business’s Saint John City Market stall, a necessary move in preparation for expansion.
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The scale back currently has them operating in the city market only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, an arrangement Robin assures will continue until Naan-ya Business officially opens at the new location.
North Side Calling
“We just grew out of the space,” Robin told Huddle, saying she and her husband found they had also developed quite the following in Saint John’s north end borough, sharing their own market analysis revealed 70 percent of their existing customer base was coming from that area of the city.
“We thought it would be a great move,” she said, while confirming the takeover of the Jaco’s location means Khoury’s beloved pizza and donair recipes will continue to be served, adding Naan-ya Business plans to bring their own Pakistani flair to what will be an expanded menu.
The Sheikh’s asked their customers if they would like to see the business move to that area of the city.
“We live north, and we always had customers saying, ‘We wish you were north because I’d like to get food after four o’clock.’ So, we knew we needed a bigger location,” Robin said.
To make such a move worth it, both Robin and Tabraze knew they needed to expand hours.
“We’re going to be open from 11am to 11pm, 365 days a year.”
Hiring staff, expanding delivery
Naan-ya Business is currently in the midst of expanding its team, and looking for a full time cook to help, one of three positions that will be added this summer, bringing its total staff to six.
For Robin, it’s refreshing to be able to finally end the couple’s search for a new home for Naan-ya Business, and to be able add the necessary staff to make it happen.
“The pandemic affected us immensely,” she said. “We had 85 percent loss in sales during COVID.”
She admits both her and her husband almost didn’t make it out, before realizing an opportunity to move the business could very well mean the difference between expansion, or perhaps sticking around for their own last hurrah at the market.
“We could either go and expand and do what we wanted to do, or we can sit back and twiddle our fingers and let the business die,” Robin shared. “We’ve put way too much literal blood, sweat and tears into the business to see it crumble,” she said, adding their goal is to eventually franchise.
Through conversations in the city’s food service community, the couple heard about the Jaco’s site and how it could provide an opportunity to fulfill the expansion they needed.
“We knew it would be awesome to keep this pizza and donair and bring something else to the north end, because there’s no other Pakistani food in the north end.”
The Sheikh’s have already begun renovations after taking control of the new location this month.
A counter has already been built, with plans to showcase the restaurant’s spice mural on the wall behind, alongside its future menu board.
“Then you’re going to have a counter that you can actually look over into the prep table and choose what you want,” Robin added, likening the future ordering experience to something like “the Subway of Pakistani food.”
“You get to pick your main your side, your salad, your dessert, your drink, and you’re on your way,” she said, promising some seating will remain at the location for dine-in guests.
Like many other establishments, nowhere has Naan-ya Business shown more reliance on staying afloat, than in its ability to continue to offer delivery throughout the pandemic.
To accommodate the move north, the couple is bringing in a third-party company to assist with its delivery model while continuing their successful pairing with SkipTheDishes, and a renewed partnership as well with DoorDash.
While an official opening in the north end is still weeks away, both Robin and Tabraze are promising a mid-summer kick-off, but at this time haven’t set a particular date.
With signage on its way this week and menus to be printed, Robin promises fans of both Naan-ya Business and the former Jaco’s that the new restaurant will be a pizza, donair and Pakistani takeaway.
“Things like Pakistani chicken curry dishes, beef curry dishes, vegan and vegetarian,” she said, while admitting the pizza in particular is somewhat new territory for both.
While the couple has ideas on what future expansion for Naan-ya Business looks like, the new location is only the first step.
“Our goal is to open up a bigger location in Fredericton and Moncton in the next two or three years.”
Tyler Mclean is a Huddle reporter based in Fredericton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].