Mr. Kofta parks his truck and moves indoors

ASHEBORO — The Mr. Kofta food truck has been parked after five years of service to the community.

Owners Rocky Akhtar and Maddie Jave, who specialize in Mediterranean foods, have moved their kitchen into a building at 419 S. Fayetteville St., Asheboro, where they hope to have more stability, both with their business and their family.

“We started because of COVID,” said Jave of their 2020 beginnings in the food world. With restaurants shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to take their food to the people.

Another reason for the Mr. Kofta food truck was that “there was no Mediterranean food in Asheboro. It was time to start it,” said Jave.

Neither she nor Akhtar had experience in the food business, “but I’ve been cooking all my life, but not as a restaurant owner,” Jave said.

Akhtar, who is trained as a graphic designer, said, “My dad and uncle were both cooks. And my grandfather was a chef in Pakistan.”

Jave called doing the food truck “a big shift. The food truck is hard, especially the weather when it’s hot in the summer.”

After five years this past December, they moved into the building, which is small but they hope to expand to an outdoor patio when the temperatures rise.

Both Jave and Akhtar were born in Pakistan, although Akhtar grew up in New York City. It was on a visit to his home country that he met a young first-year medical student.

“It was a love marriage,” Jave said, noting that arranged weddings were still big in Pakistan at that time. “We were married Jan. 12, 2004. I’ve been here (in the United States) 22 years.”

This “love marriage” has produced three children: a son Harry who is 19, daughter Amna who is 16 and 8-year-old Emma. Harry is studying radiology at RCC while Amna is at Asheboro High School with plans to be a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Emma is autistic and nonverbal, making her homebound. That’s another reason for moving from food truck to indoor restaurant. During working hours, Emma stays home with Harry.

Since the move, Mr. Kofta Mediterranean Grill is having to find its customer base.

“It’s getting better but a lot of our (food truck) customers don’t know we’re here,” Jave said.

“This used to be a salon and we don’t have much room, just six seats. We hope we can expand more.”

Asked to explain what Mediterranean food is, Jave said the foods come from a host of countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. While they use the same basic ingredients, the various countries come up with “slightly different flavors.”

Meats at Mr. Kofta are halal, which means they meet Muslim guidelines. For instance, they contain no pork products, animals must be slaughtered humanely and all blood is drained. 

“Halal is a way of cutting the meat, which is healthier with no blood,” Jave said. “It’s more expensive, but healthier with no processed meat.”

Besides the meats, Mr. Kofta uses fresh vegetables, all cut in the kitchen. They use lettuce, bell peppers and red onions to serve with the meats.

“We grind our own spices,” she said. “Everything is fresh, not frozen.”

That means coming in at 5 or 6 a.m. to prepare spices and sauces before opening at 11 a.m.

While Mediterranean foods are prepared a certain way in Europe and Africa, America has its own version.

 “Here is what you find in America, how people like it here,” Jave said. “America is a melting food pot and that’s the way people here like it.”

Jave and Akhtar do all the work in the kitchen while Amna takes orders at the counter when she’s not in school. “We want the food to be perfect,” Jave said. “The recipes are the same. We don’t want to ruin our customer base.”

Kofta is a Persian word meaning pounded meat. At Mr. Kofta, that translates to chicken or beef kebabs, gyros and baklava.

The top seller, Jave said, is the combo plate while the beef steak kabab is a new addition.

Going into the restaurant business, she said, “took a leap of faith. We never wanted to leave Asheboro. We had offers to go to a big city. But this is my children’s town. This is my people.

“I want to work here, to be here as long as we can,” she said. “We want people to enjoy the food and tell us they love it. Our customers are everything to us. We respect them.”

Mr. Kofta Mediterranean Grill is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 9 p.m.

You can find out more about Mr. Kofta and see the menu at https://mrkofta.com.