Meet Noami Yemini of Naomi’s Garden Restaurant and Lounge in Little Haiti

Today we’d like to introduce you to Noami Yemini.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My parents, Yaron and Shula Yemini, started our journey in the food business as a health food truck called the “ladybug food trailer” in the early 1980s. As the business grew, they bought our current property, creating a commercial kitchen distributing health food to most of the Miami, Broward, Palm Beach area local health food stores and restaurants. Our products were carried by companies like Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Natural Food Market, Rainbow Grocers, Unicorn, Apple a Day, and many more. As the health food industry nationalized, the local stores were not able to survive and the larger companies started making their own prepared foods.

Our employees starting in the 1980s were from the Haitian community. It happened that my parents met and hired a Haitian nun as their first employee and she brought her church friends to work at our new business, “Creative Kitchens”. Haitian owned businesses surrounded us and their employees and owners asked if we could provide lunch seeing as we had a fully operating kitchen and there were no restaurants in the area. My parents looked into it and opened a small window serving a simple rotating daily menu. With our background in health food and our Haitian staff, we were making the healthiest and tastiest Haitian food in town. Without much effort and with a lot of love from the community, our name, “Naomi’s Garden”, spread through the town. We became a stalwart of the Haitian community. At almost any time of day, one will find individuals from a breadth of industries, a taxi driver, security officer and doctor or nurse waiting in line.

My brother Omaar and myself were both born at Naomi’s, in our beautiful garden seating area which was our family’s home at the time. Our older sister, Liza remembers growing up here. The main performance stage is actually in the location where we were born. Two of the ladies that have worked here for over 30 years were at our original birthday parties, helping my mom and the midwife through the process. We learned how to cook surrounded by these wonderful women and the entire community around us.

Three years ago, I took over as general manager of the restaurant and began to modernize and expand. We now have online ordering systems and technology in every aspect of restaurant operations. We began serving wider audiences, purposefully introducing the amazing cuisine of the islands to the diverse cultures in Miami that may have not had the opportunity to try it before. Haitians make up one of the largest groups living in the Miami area and the culture that comes with them, from art and music to food is rich and unique in ways that were almost impossible to appreciate from the outside – given language barriers and a tight-knit community. The rich history of Haiti’s food culture is a story of the forced combination of cultures from France, India, and Africa in the sugarcane trade during the times of slavery. The cooking techniques from some of the most scientific culinary traditions in the world, mixed with the necessity and availability of resources created some of the specialties that we love today.

We have the great opportunity and privilege of being able to expose the fantastic food of this culture to everyone who lives in the area. People regularly drive from West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale to taste our food. We have shipped food to other states and have had customers tell us that we are their first and last stop when they visit from out of state.

Our meals include vegan options, inspired by the early days of the business, which are not traditionally available at Haitian restaurants. We also serve seafood, poultry and meat options. We continually expand and improve our offering – staying true to the taste and style of this powerful cuisine while exploring the changing tastes and habits of today’s culture.

We are in the process of building a new food truck, further tying our present model with the business that my parents started so long ago. The garden continues to expand and we will soon offer local entertainment many nights each week.

The restaurant is named after my grandmother Naomi. My father writes that “she cooked for 4 and fed 40. Today, her name feeds thousands and her generosity continues.” Our history is a multi-family and multi-generational one that, with our love and dedication, and the support of the community around us will grow for generations to come.

Has it been a smooth road?
At Naomi’s, we count ourselves amongst the luckiest and most fortunate of business owners. Especially in the restaurant, where employee turn over rates are generally high, the average time that our employees have been with us is upwards of 20 years, with some employees being with us as many as 35 years!

Our customers have also been supportive in ways that I have never seen or heard in other restaurants. Some of our customers have been with us from the start and are like family – coming to eat here multiple times a day!

That being said, running a small business in an environment that traditionally supports large businesses has been a struggle. It is shocking how many different governmental organizations have control over various aspects of running a business. It almost seems like each day, another department or organization wants another small fee or to perform another inspection or to update another code. Large organizations can afford entire teams of lawyers and can easily navigate the process, however, the small business does not have the resources to do this in the same way.

Another interesting trend has been the development of subscription or percentage-based services that are almost necessary partners in today’s restaurant world. The advent of third-party delivery services, while great marketing, take such large cuts of a restaurants sales, that they are simply not profitable. Larger companies such as chain restaurants can make their voices heard and have huge bargaining power, while the little guys have no real mechanisms for teaming up with other small businesses. We remain partners with services like UberEats and Grubhub while encouraging customers to order directly from us using our website NaomisMiami.com or our own mobile application.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Naomi’s Garden Restaurant and Lounge story. Tell us more about the business.
We specialize in Haitian food and have a larger offering including Jamaican dishes as well as specialized appetizers that are unique to our restaurant. The variety of vegan options we provide is unheard of in this cuisine – from Tofu Stroganoff to Legume (mash of vegetables) to Chick Pea Stew and Okra Stew, there is something for everyone. Caribbean food has generally been thought of as heavy and though we have hearty portions, we are conscious of salt and oil levels and only use fresh local ingredients. We are also pro-active in using eco-friendly take out plates, biodegradable utensils and make every effort we can to do our part in the changing climate of our fragile planet.

Catering is a large part of our business, with a flexible menu allowing us to do events large and small – high end to casual – 10 person office lunches to 100 person weddings.

Our garden seating area is one we take great pride in. We offer a no-nonsense, family-style, comfortable backyard vibe which is simple and inviting. Come to the garden to eat, read a book, lay in a hammock, check out a performer and simply enjoy yourself – as you would at home.

Some of our most popular dishes are Jerk Chicken, Fried Snapper, and Legume, paired with traditional rice and cornmeal options as well as sides like Baked Macaroni and Cheese and homemade Passion Fruit Juice.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Customer satisfaction is the most important mark of success. Each satisfied customer will return to the restaurant repeatedly because we address an important part of human nature – a healthy and delicious meal! I look at reports on repeat customers.

I discuss customer needs and requests that we get from the customers with the staff regularly. Employee satisfaction is also incredibly important. We have a loyal group of people working here and part of the reason is that we always strive to make this a great environment.

Whenever a customer may have a complaint, I always do what I can to take care of them. Positive reviews are important because that is today’s version of word of mouth. However, many times instead of addressing an issue immediately, people that have an issue choose to express their frustrations online. In those cases, I do my best to solve their issues however it makes it much harder because it is further removed.

I study what other quick-serve and fine dining restaurants are doing and how they are changing especially with technology and food trends moving so quickly in today’s society.

Profitability is of immense important because it is the best indication that we are able to continue doing the work that we are doing in a manner which will allow us to grow and consistently provides quality services.

Pricing:

• Average meal: $8 to $12

Contact Info:

• Address: 650 NW 71st Street
  Miami, FL 33150
• Website: www.naomismiami.com
• Phone: 305-456-4715
• Email: naomis@naomismiami.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/naomismiami/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naomismiami

Image Credit:
Mary Beth Koeth

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