FEATURED STORY FROM THE Best of BG – 2018 ISSUE
Lily Cafe:
Focuses on Family and Creating Community Through Serving BG
Lily Café means family: Family within the community and family within itself. The store hasn’t been open for that long but it’s having an impact on Bowling Green.
Ahoud Alwarsh is the owner of the store and a Bowling Green State University alumna. Brother of the owner, Amjad Alwarsh is now the general manager and keeps the store moving. He is able to run the restaurant with the support of his family and serve the community of Bowling Green and particularly the need to serve the growing Muslim population in the area.
“Well it was hard to find Middle Eastern food, especially halal—it was hard for us to find food for us to eat,” he said. “The closest one was Dearborn and Toledo. In Bowling Green there was nothing at all. We had to travel every time to get halal food. That was the main idea.” The restaurant does a great job at celebrating Muslim and Arabic culture in Bowling Green. Recently, they celebrated Ramadan which was a change of pace for them because they were only open for five hours a day. But that didn’t stop them from running the store and serving the community.
“It’s great, busy during the school days,” said Alwarsh. “Quiet during the summer. It’s still a chance to get slow traffic. It’s a great support system from the community. We engage with fundraisers and the community group as much as we can. Last semester, we joined a fundraising group with the school and we did some activities as well.” Even though the speed of business has changed throughout the summer, the staff at Lily Café enjoys the work they do and the community the people they serve. This business helps the students in the area and gives them a place to get food that reminds them of home.
“I like working in the BG community,” said Alwarsh. “We are still a big family. Two of us work in here, the third one is the owner. We still have the rest of the family, like my brother-in-law who just left. There is a big group of Muslims coming to BGSU. The Muslim Student Association (MSA) that we get to work with.” The staff at Lily Café has been an asset to Bowling Green because they’ve been able to add their culture to the community. They get to teach the community about their culture and types of food they eat. “My favorite part about working at Lily Café is dealing with customers, talking to them and interviews with them,” said Alwarsh. “We get to explain Middle Eastern food with the community, talking about the spices we brought from overseas. Its lovely having a family business because we all understand each other. It’s a good thing and it makes it easier to work in here.”
This business is really family centered and the relatives love working with each other. Some of them are both members of the family and the BGSU community. “The food is good, the place is nice and I like cooking, a lot,” said BGSU Medical Technology senior, Ahmend Alsenan. “Maybe too much, sometimes. I like drawing and painting, cooking is really like that. I mostly cook here. I volunteer because my family works here. If no one has ever had Middle Eastern food, this is a good place to start. We do our best to present it like original Mediterranean food, like the look, smell and taste.”