Proud of our owner Andy Shallal for being named Washington Business Journals Power 100 of 2013 Andy Shallal is considering adding another title to his long list of accomplishments — mayoral candidate. He recently established an exploratory committee to considering running if Mayor Vincent Gray does not. It’s not out of the blue. The founder of the popular Busboys and Poets restaurants has long been a community leader and activist. Shallal doesn’t separate mission from business and he garnered recognition from politicians, authors, activists, patrons and business leaders alike for his ability to go beyond mere good food and successfully build communities. He’s been instrumental in the shop local campaigns, and Shallal, who also owns the Eatonville restaurant in D.C., this year signed a lease for his fifth Busboys and Poets, this one in D.C.’s Takoma neighborhood. The Iraqi-born businessman went from being a risky prospect chasing after a federal loan to open his first Busboys and Poets to being a sought-after marketing asset. As Aakash Thakkar of EYA and Arts District Hyattsville told The Washington Post Magazine in December 2011, “Securing Andy Shallal … makes the rest of the leasing and the rest of the marketing easier.”
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:47:32 +0000