Today we’d like to introduce you to Mohammad Elsaadi.

Mohammad, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

AL Quick Stop, also known as Al’s, has been a part of my family since 1991, the year I was born. It is a convenience store with a quick-serve restaurant inside. It has a very New-York Mom and Pop Shop vibe. Growing up as a child I loved helping out at the store, it was fun for me. However, as I got older, I drifted away from Al’s and started my focus towards the oil & gas market. Working in a convenience store just seemed less and less appealing, I always wanted the “big oil money.” Although I never fully stopped helping out, my time spent there became less and less throughout my college years. I interned with an oil & gas company for 5 years, worked full time for another year and a half, and then the market started to fall. After being with a company for all of college and starting your post-grad career with them, the thought of being laid off doesn’t cross your mind. In Feb of 2016 I was laid off from my engineering position and it happened to be the biggest blessing in disguise. While I spent the first couple of months looking for jobs I picked up a few extra shifts at Al’s to help out.

As I worked more and more, I started to see where I could improve the store, more specifically the restaurant and make changes. My first few additions revolved around getting us into the social media world. After being in the front lines and seeing the small changes go a big way, my excitement with the store grew and my urge to job hunt slowly fell off. Around this time, the launch of delivery apps were starting to hit the market. I quickly saw an opportunity to increase sales while also marketing our store. Our biggest issue at the time was that most people knew we were a convenience store, but no one knew we had a restaurant inside. Our product was great, but no one knew about it. We started off with one delivery app and as time went on our reach grew. Within the next few months we were on basically every delivery app in Houston. All it took was getting our food out to the masses for people to realize how amazing it is. We are now on UberEats, Postmates, Amazon Prime Now, GrubHub, Door Dash, and Eat24. We quickly became one of the busiest restaurants on UberEats in Houston and within a year increased our restaurant sales by upwards of 55%, but more could be done.

Throughout my life I realized that complacency will get you no where. As I started to see our success, I became hungry for more. I spent the last 3 and a half months creating our own website and we officially launched it on Thursday November 2nd. You are now able to order us on every app in Houston, our own website, over the phone, and in person at our store. We serve every-day household items, beer, cigarettes, and some of Houston’s best Mediterranean food. In Arabic, AL means The, so we pride ourselves on being The Quick Stop for everyone. We’re open 365 days a year and always striving to be the best.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Not smooth at all, but all the road bumps make it worth it. Managing a restaurant is a huge task in itself, so the everyday struggles of that were big enough, but that added factor of it being a family business makes it exponentially harder. When you are the owner, if something goes wrong it is all on you. There is no one else to go to. When a problem goes wrong, you have to make sure it is fixed. When staff doesn’t show up, you have to work. I quickly learned that owning a business means you never really have days off. Although you may be able to make your own schedule, you typically work double the hours of a regular job. The work is always on your mind because you have to make sure it succeeds.

One of the biggest struggles has been staffing. It is very hard to find good employees. I’ve had to work 32 days in a row without a day off because we were low on staff. 12 hour days aren’t uncommon either, but it taught me over time how important good quality employees are. You need to invest in your staff payment wise as well as time spent training them. Ensuring that a training program is in place and making sure everything is organized and clear-cut is also very important.

Please tell us about AL Quick Stop.

AL Quick Stop & Grill, also known as Al’s, is a family-run convenience store located in the Montrose area of Houston, TX. In Arabic AL means The, so we pride ourselves on being THE go-to shop for all your needs. Whether its groceries or your appetite, we’ve got you covered. At Al’s we serve a wide variety of foods ranging from Mediterranean to Tex-Mex, burgers, and more. We also have over 75 different types/brands of beer & wine and over 85 types/brands of tobacco-related products. Our kitchen is open from 8 am to 10 pm every day of the year and the rest of the store stays open until midnight. Al’s is also open on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and every other holiday of the year, so we always make sure our customers are taken care of.

What sets us apart is that we are open every day of the year and we can be found on nearly every food delivery app in Houston. We make ourselves available to everyone at all times. We have our own website that food can be ordered from as well.

We are most known for our Mediterranean food, more specifically our Gyro. We have many items that involve the Gyro but our most popular are the Gyro Fries and the Hummus Supreme. We are also well known for our Falafel. We were voted top 5 by Houston Press.

I am most proud our taste. Most people have a hard time believing that great food can come from a convenience store, so the look on their face when they try our food is what I live for. Proving to people that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?

Being that it is a convenience store, there are a lot of snacks. As a child, I always lived in the suburbs so coming out to Al’s was a treat because of the unlimited snacks. As a kid, I just assumed everything was “free” because my dad owned the store. As soon as I walked in the store I would make a straight shot for the chip aisle. I’d typically grab a bag of Hot Cheetos and then a Reese’s. Next, I found my way to a stick of beef jerky and a big coke. I’d always take my assortment of snacks to the back of the store and just eat and lay down. Usually, from the sugar rush I’d want to help out at the cash register, so my dad would let me ring a few people up. Looking back on it, those were the days. Not a worry in the world other than which snack will I pick first.

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