How does delicious smell?
Every day, the Citgo convenience store at the corner of Gardner Boulevard and Tuscaloosa Road is redolent with the smells of fresh-baked bread piled high with roast beef, turkey, ham, cheddar, provolone or American cheese. Or cotto salami and bologna or savory meatballs smothered in Mozzarella cheese.
Serving an average of more than 100 customers a day, United Deli and Grocery provides broad offerings — including Rueben, French dip, Philly cheese steak and New Orleans-style muffuletta and classic gyro sandwiches, as well as specialties like fresh baklava and other baked goods — seven days a week.
Owner Adel “John” Musa estimates most of the deli”s visitors are repeat customers, a measure of the deli”s success.
“We get new customers and they”re coming back,” he said. “If you come in today and you ate and I never saw you again, we”re going in the wrong direction.
“I got good support,” he added of his business. “We”re doing the right job.”
Opening United Deli and Grocery, which Musa owns and manages with his wife, Nima, is the culmination of a 15-year dream.
A native of Yemen, Adel Musa has been in the United States since 1992. He began using fresh-baked French bread in his uncle”s Tacoma, Wash., deli and later worked in a deli-style shop in Memphis, Tenn.
He also operated a deli in Brooksville before his wife joined him from Yemen and they opened United Deli and Grocery in February 2006.
The deli is built on word-of-mouth recommendations and business is booming.
“We”re picking up,” Musa, who operates the deli with a staff of three others, including his wife, said modestly, noting he plans to hire more assistance this year.
United Deli and Grocery is open from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sundays.
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