When we decided to stay in this country, I wanted to make sure that I'm in a country that really does espouse those values that we decided to move here for from Iraq. All of these things are very significant for me and I take them very seriously. My family moved to this country in 1966 for some very important values about this country, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly. They want people to come buy their product. They're selling a product and that's all they want. You know, most people in the restaurant business or any business don't really like people to know what they think. SHALLAL: Well, you always open yourself up for errors when you start telling a lot about your inside, how you think. Were you reluctant to kind of open up the pages of your own story? But this is a whole other story that I have to confess I knew nothing about. just to get your insights as a small business owner dealing with the recession and how you're coping. I should say, welcome back, because we've spoken to you before. But few have intertwined activism with their business model like Andy Shallal, the owner of D.C.'s Busboys and Poets restaurant chain.Ī naturalized Iraqi American, he is the improbably proprietor behind a chain of restaurants inspired by the famed African American poet, Langston Hughes, and he's probably the only major restaurant owner in Washington who has been feeding the Occupy protesters and has been arrested in front of the White House to stop an oil pipeline.Īnd Andy Shallal is here with us now. Presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Herman Cain come to mind. Now, many business owners have at least tried to make the transition from business success to politics. And, today, we have a story about entrepreneurship and activism. Now, we open up the pages of the Washington Post magazine, something we do just about every week to find interesting stories about the way we live now.
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