Travis Smith
Online Editor
Every day at Idaho State University, students sit down in business classes, daydreaming about the day they can apply the lessons they learn.
For most of the students, everything is in the hypothetical stage, but for Arizona native Thom Fife and Saudi Arabia native Saleh Alshammeri, that scenario is now gone and has been replaced with reality.
These two ISU students recently opened their own Mediterranean restaurant.
Alexander’s Mediterranean Restaurant is located at in the Westwood Mall parking lot in Pocatello.
Alshammeri, the owner of the restaurant, is in charge of food and operations, while Fife handles the business aspects.
After being paired in an advanced statistics class, the two decided to go into business together.
Once Fife approached Alshammeri about the idea of going into business together, the two applied a basic business principle taught in business classes: they recognized a need and found a way to fulfill it.
As a transplanted Muslim attending ISU, Alshammeri was able to recognize what the relatively large Muslim population of Pocatello needed.
At ISU alone, 412 students in the were from Saudi Arabia in the spring 2013 semester, according to the International Programs Office.
Muslims live by Sharia law, which includes dietary restrictions.
One of those requires Muslims to only eat halal meat. For meat to be considered halal, specific practices are performed during the slaughtering and processing of the animal.
The blood must be completely drained from the animal, which results in a fresher taste, according to Alshammeri.
“They only do clean parts of the animal, so it’s a better cut,” said Fife. “Because it’s a better cut, it’s a better meat.”
The meat is picked up in Salt Lake City at least twice a week. The spices to flavor the meat come from Chicago, California and Saudi Arabia.
According to Fife, Alexander’s Mediterranean Restaurant is the only restaurant within 50 miles that serves halal meat.
“We are bringing the East to the West,” said Alshammeri.
Fife and Alshammeri are also looking to expand.
They want to open a grocery store, which will cater to international students.
As ISU students, Fife and Alshammeri are trying to soak in as much as they can while attending classes.
“When something comes up I am definitely asking my teachers, ‘Hey, what should I do about this?’” Fife said.
Fife and Alshammeri apply lessons learned at ISU to help grow their business.
“The classes that have been the most important are the marketing classes,” said Fife.
“We have the international students pretty well pegged but the hard part is getting the rest of Pocatello to buy into what we are doing.,” he continued.
The two are faced with the difficult task of balancing school and work but so far have been able to handle the workload. It is not uncommon to walk into their restaurant and see either Fife’s or Alshammeri’s nose in a textbook.
“We said to ourselves, ‘Why wait until we graduate?’ The sooner the better,” Fife said.
“You definitely learn the lessons a littler harder and pay more attention in class,” he continued.
“We now have financial and legal obligations that come with running your own business.”
Alexander’s Mediterranean Restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.
