The fire engine red 17-foot long sandwich truck abutting Bushnell Park at lunch time represents a global journey for owners Debra and Khen Raviv.
The married couple, veterans of the Greater Hartford restaurant business, ran upscale establishments in Canton and West Hartford from 1997 to 2009. Collectively, their experiences in New York, London, France, the Virgin Islands and Israel served as a training ground for what they hope will be a new “sandwich revolution” — a toasted & pressed-specialty sandwich operation on wheels.
Toasted, which began operating in May, is the latest food venture of the Ravivs. They are already on the move making plans to add a breakfast menu, second truck, a downtown Hartford storefront and a presence at Rentschaeler field in East Hartford. The thought of franchising the fledgling business is also an option.
Toasted’s concept is simple, but outside of the mobile truck, not necessarily novel: offer folks a 10-inch toasted and pressed specialty sandwich with a side of pickles, chips and a drink for under $10. The truck is becoming popular among the other food truck offerings at the Bushnell, particularly with the police officers patrolling the area. “The fastest growing market in the food business is quick service,” said Debra Raviv, a chef trained at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. “Everything from ‘to go’ to fast food. We are not a sit-down restaurant. We’re a ‘take to go’ and relatively inexpensive. If you look at the climate of our economy, people don’t want to spend $20 on lunch anymore. So, we said, ‘what’s missing?’ Subway is hugely successful. But we want to be different. We’re going to toast and press every sandwich. We’re going to use bread made fresh by a bakery every day and we’re going to sell the highest quality product we can sell and have a concept that is fun.”
The truck, parked at Elm Street Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., offers nine signature sandwiches and also sells gluten free bread and fresh fruit smoothies. Working inside are the Ravivs and two other staffers. A food license and permit is required. Initial start-up costs were about $60,000. So far, Toasted sells approximately 400 sandwiches a week.
Debra Raviv, a West Hartford native, is a 1989 graduate of Hall High School and a Syracuse alumnus. Khen Raviv was born in Israel and graduated from Central Connecticut State University. They want to make urban markets their target audience. “The heartbeat of America is the cities,” Debra Raviv said. “We wanted a concept that worked in those places. We want to go to downtown cites. We want to go into college campuses.”
Debra is the face and voice of the business. Khen prefers to keep a lower profile and work behind the scenes. Her experience overseas contributes to a fastidious approach to food, one that insists on personally picking fresh products, creating eclectic flavors and signature presentations. Her parents were both gourmet chefs. Debra and Khen’s past restaurants featured American cuisine with Pan Asian influences, and Mediterranean dishes.
Two years ago, the couple saw Khen’s friend in Telaviv, Israel run a similar food truck business. They thought the concept could work in Connecticut’s Capital City and felt their experience as restaurateurs would make this a success.
From 1997 to 2001, Debra ran the Frog and Peach Restaurant in Canton, where the five-spice duck served over sesame noodle cake was a signature dish featured in a local magazine. They opened the popular Mediza Restaurant in West Hartford from 2005 to 2009. The 90-seat restaurant employed 25 people, featured a mostly Mediterranean menu, with influences from Spain, northern Italy, southern France and Turkey.
Mediza began to struggle in 2007. The economy was slumping at the same time that Blue Back Square and other restaurants were opening in West Hartford.
“It was becoming financially not good for us,” Raviv said. “We also had a third child in 2007, so it became too much with a family of three and having to be (at the restaurant) all the time. So, we made a conscious decision to close the door. It was very tough. Everyone knew us a ‘Mediza.’ It became part of our identity.”
She took a job as director of the Hartford Culinary Arts Academy in 2009, stayed for a year and then she and Khen decided to go to Israel. Khen had the opportunity to join his father’s cutlery-sharpening business in Telaviv. “We thought it would be a phenomenal experience for the kids,” Debra Raviv said. “They became bilingual. They went to regular public school. I became a certified Zumba instructor, learned Hebrew. I learned to surf. I made a lot of new friends. I was a stay at home mom for the first time since I had kids — and I enjoyed it.”
Israel, however, is an expensive place to live and the government, Raviv says, takes a hefty cut of wages. The family never sold its West Hartford home, but was renting it. A return to Connecticut was in order.
Their stay in Israel, however, was rejuvenating. The Ravivs feel refreshed and wiser from the two failed restaurants.
Stan Simpson is host of “The Stan Simpson Show” (www.Foxct.com/stan and Saturdays, 6:30 a.m., on FoxCT). His ‘Faces in Business’ column appears monthly. Know someone who’d make a good subject for ‘Faces in Business’? Contact Simpson at stansimpson@comcast.net
