Yerevan’s ‘Aleppo Cuisine’ Center Looks to Provide Jobs—and Hope—to Refugee Families  

YEREVAN—After months of preparation, the Aleppo Compatriotic Charitable Organization (Aleppo-NGO), a Syrian-Armenian humanitarian relief group, is nearly ready to open its new Middle Eastern food-service center. Named “Aleppo Cuisine,” the center will be located on Koghbatsi Street in the heart of Yerevan.

On February 9, Aleppo-NGO and GIZ, Germany’s flagship international development agency, celebrated the installation of appliances and equipment at Aleppo Cuisine (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

In addition to a small on-site café, Aleppo Cuisine will offer catering and delivery services, and it will produce a wide array of frozen foods for distribution to grocery stores and restaurants across Armenia.

Developed with the intent of providing jobs to those who fled to Armenia during the Syrian conflict, Aleppo Cuisine will also distribute a share of its profits to refugee families whose breadwinners are incapacitated by illness or disability, and it will regularly donate food to vulnerable local populations.

Aleppo-NGO President Ani Balkhian relates that she and others at Aleppo-NGO had the idea for a cuisine center while considering ways to help refugees who arrived in Armenia via the NGO’s “Save a Life” program from 2015 to 2017. “We brought these people here,” Balkhian says, referencing Aleppo-NGO’s evacuation of hundreds of Armenians from Syria at the height of the conflict, “and we feel a responsibility to help them rebuild their lives.”

A portion of the food-preparation equipment provided by GIZ (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

Vreij Kolandjian, parish council chairman of Houston’s St. Kevork Armenian Apostolic Church—who raised more than $120,000 for the “Save a Life” project—agrees that it’s imperative to focus on helping refugees adjust to their new home.

“Aleppo Armenians need jobs ahead of anything else,” he argues—especially women in the community, who stand to benefit the most from the “sense of security and self-accomplishment” provided by a job.

Sarkis Balkhian, a member of Aleppo-NGO, speaks at the Aleppo Cuisine Center on Feb. 9 (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

Two factors convinced NGO leaders that a cuisine center would be the best way to create jobs for Syrian-Armenian refugees. First, they say, they took note of the rising demand for Western Armenian and Middle Eastern food in Armenia. Tsola Beshlian Vizoyan, Aleppo Cuisine’s prospective head chef, observes that “Syrian food has quickly become very popular in Yerevan. Over the past few years, locals have definitely developed a taste for it.”

Evidence for her claim is scattered across the city: From Erebuni to Arabkir, more than 40 restaurants—the vast majority owned and operated by recent refugees from Syria—now focus on Middle Eastern cuisine.

Vreij Kolandjian shakes hands with a representative of GIZ Armenia, which helped equip the kitchen of the Cuisine Center. Also pictured is Aleppo-NGO President Ani Balkhian (center) (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

As restaurateurs scramble to keep up with demand, Aleppo Cuisine’s large-scale production and distribution service will address major gaps in the market, increasing the availability of Middle Eastern and Western Armenian cuisine at catered events, grocery stores, and beyond.

The second factor that persuaded Aleppo-NGO to open a cuisine center was the skillset of the refugee population. “The women of our community,” says Harout Zoulamian, a member of Aleppo Cuisine’s leadership team, “are talented, energetic, and hardworking, and their culinary expertise is a great untapped resource. We are convinced that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to.”

Donors enter the Aleppo Cuisine Center, 83 Koghbatsi Street, in downtown Yerevan (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

Since December, Aleppo Cuisine’s prospective employees have participated in a variety of business, hygiene, and safety training sessions, and they are now concluding the preparation process with hands-on practice in a mock kitchen. Zoulamian notes that the women entered training with a wealth of knowledge and experience regarding Middle Eastern cuisine. “They already knew how to prepare all of the dishes,” he says. “Ichli kufta, madzunov kufta, yalanchi, pastries, desserts, you name it—they can make it perfectly.” The training thus sought to draw on those existing skills and prepare the women to work as a team to produce much larger quantities of food, and to meet uniform-quality standards.

“When you give someone a fish, you feed them for a day. When you teach them how to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. This is our philosophy,” Zoulamian says. “The cuisine center isn’t a temporary aid initiative. It’s a sustainable foundation on which families can build their lives in Armenia.”

Tsola Beshlian Vizoyan, Aleppo Cuisine’s prospective head chef, displays food produced during training sessions. (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

Balkhian elaborates: “You can’t teach someone how to fish in a desert. They also need access to water and access to tools. In contrast to many other training programs for Syrian refugees, this is the level of support Aleppo Cuisine Center will provide, offering a direct path to sustainable employment and income for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Aleppo-NGO hopes to employ up to 25 Syrian-Armenian women and persons with disabilities within its first 12 months of operation, increasing to 70-90 within the first five years. Work hours will be personally tailored for each employee, allowing individuals with unpredictable schedules to participate. For many of the employees, the center will represent the end of a months-long—or even years-long—search to find a job that accommodates their family responsibilities.

Donors pose with the management of the Aleppo Cuisine Center (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

In the words of Beshlian-Vizoyan, “A job is one of the most important ways someone can feel strong, one of the best ways to build dignity. So I have great hopes for this enterprise and the impact it will have on the women who participate. It’s proof that we as Syrian Armenians are not broken, that we’re still fighting, and that we have a fierce will to survive.”

The Aleppo Cuisine Center will be headquartered at 83 Koghbatsi Street, and is scheduled to open for business as soon as remodeling is completed—likely by the beginning of summer. The center’s space was bought thanks to a generous donation from St. Kevork Armenian Apostolic Church in Houston, supplemented by Robert and Nyree Österbauer-Tanielian of the United Kingdom. The kitchen, meanwhile, has been fully equipped with new appliances by GIZ, Germany’s flagship international development agency, as part of its “Economic Integration of Syrian Refugees in Armenia” (EISRA) program.

Harout Zoulamian shakes hands with a representative of GIZ Armenia, which helped equip the kitchen of Aleppo Cuisine Center (Photo: Aleppo-NGO)

Aleppo-NGO’s leadership has ambitious plans for the cuisine center’s future. All of the profits will be used for humanitarian relief assistance and reinvestment into growth—hiring new employees, expanding services, and increasing production amounts, and eventually opening a second location.

One day, Zoulamian says, Aleppo Cuisine’s products will be found throughout Armenia and will even be exported internationally. “There are no limits in our minds as to where we can go.”

Hagop Toghramadjian

Hagop Toghramadjian

Hagop Toghramadjian studies at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Hagop Toghramadjian

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3 Comments

  1. What a wonderful story! If someone wants to donate the effort, could you give the information for the church in Houston that supports this effort? I would appreciate that very much.

    • St. Kevork Armenian Church,
      3211 Synott road,
      Houston, TX 77082
      Attn: Vreij Kolandjian
      1-713-2698450

  2. I’ve heard from friends who visit Armenia that since the Syrian-Armenians arrived, you can really get a great meal in Yerevan. I guess this wonderful center is living proof of that! Best wishes for success.

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