Audio By Carbonatix
Remember back in the day how Mom did all her shopping at one grocery store? Then sometime in the ’80’s Walmarts started opening everywhere and on occasion that was added to the route.
Now, when many of us think about the goods we stock our pantries, fridges and mini-bars with, we hit three, maybe four spots. In general, our shopping habits have changed. Specialty stores have found their place in the region’s ever-increasing grocery wonderland.
For the past 14 years, Sara’s Market and Bakery has been quietly serving as a specialty store in Richardson. This family-run store is obviously popular with the local Middle-Eastern community, but more and more Dallasites are discovering the fresh-hot pita glory of Sara’s. As they should.
Originally, the Bayan family’s involvement in Sara’s Market and Bakery was suppose to be temporary. Waleed Bayan told his father-in-law, who was friends with the original owner, he’d help him with the build-out. But, as the opening grew near, the owner wanted out and asked the Bayan family to take over. Hesitant at first, they eventually decided to become specialty grocers.
Since that time, Sara’s Bakery has expanded then downsized, added new features then taken them out, all to find their niche, focusing on quality and letting go of things they felt spread them too thin. Now they have a great selection of imported Middle Eastern goods, fresh produce, a meat market and basically an entire pita factory in the back.
Owners Waleed and Kahloud Bayan have seven children, the oldest of whom are a set of twin boys, Zaid and Ibraheem (in photo above). Now 25 years old, the boys have taken on completely separate, yet important roles in the business and have an ambitious eye towards making Sara’s more than just a small grocery in Richardson.
“We want to stay in the Richardson area, but need more space. Right now we have about 15,000 square feet, and we want to get into something about double that size,” said Zaid, indicating they’ve been looking for the perfect spot for about a year now. “In our new store we’ll have more room so we want to add back the deli, a bulk section and a prepared section.”
Over the long run, they’re not looking just to increase the size of their one store, but to open multiple locations. “We want to open at least 10 stores with in the next 10 years,” Zaid said.
There are many interesting finds at Sara’s, the most fascinating of all is something most customers will never see — the pita maker in the back. It’s an amazing albatross that presses-out fresh pita dough then sends the flat disk on what must be a 100-yard zigzagging journey over a conveyer belt. The pita then takes a quick jaunt through a massive oven, where the bread enters as flat as tortillas and exit puffed as a blowfish.
The pitas then cool on more conveyer belts that travel up and over the heads of the workers below who package them immediately after they gently descend.
Pitas aside, one of the other great things about Sara’s Bakery is the meat market. They source most of their meat from Halal Pride Farms, who offers prime angus beef, bison, veal, lamb, goat all of which are vegetarian fed and raised without antibiotics, growth hormones and such.
Zaid and his mother, Kahloud, explain that the Halal method for slaughtering meat creates a different flavor and texture. The traditional Islamic process involves a deep cut in an artery near the windpipe and the blood is completely drained out of the animal. (Here’s one of the few reference articles I could find on it.)
In addition to the fresh, lean meats on display, the actual act of old-school butchery is a welcome sight in the open market. The day I was there, three butchers were busy cutting and trimming meat. Kahloud said that three butchers means it was a slow day.
In all, Sara’s Market is not even a quarter the size of a Central Market, but pound for pound holds its own in terms of interesting, fresh food. The staff is friendly and offers help for lost or overwhelmed shoppers.
“Customers are walking into my house when they walk into our store,” Kahould said of their approach to customer service.
Which, with their sons’ ambitious plans, won’t be far of a walk for most. They’re looking for a new home camp, and after that hope to open smaller stores around the Dallas area, answering what they say are the demands of their customers.
