Mustapha’s Olive Tree celebrates 20 years in business
INTERNATIONAL chef Mustapha Aboubi has built up a worthy reputation for his gastronomic delights since he first opened his grocery and deli business at Newtown, Castlebar, 20 years ago, writes Tom Gillespie.
Now, two decades on, he runs the hugely popular Eastern and Mediterranean Olive Tree restaurant at Newtown House in the county town.
From an initial staff of two he now employs seven at Newtown while he recently took over the running of the Appetite Cafe on Linenhall Street.
It’s very much a family affair as all of his five children have been involved in the business over the years.
Mustapha, a native of Algeria, worked in a number of top hotels and restaurants throughout the world before he met his wife, Patricia, in 1995.
He felt it was time to settle down and the couple decided to come to Castlebar.
He admitted: "I felt it was a time to settle down in a quiet environment.
"At the time it was very hard to settle but I had to create something that would make me settle.
"Looking back then, the ethnic population was starting to grow in Castlebar and I came up with the idea of opening a grocery and a deli to cater for an ethnic market. But there were a lot of ingredients I could not get in Mayo so I had to go to Galway, which was even limited.
"My target was aimed at dealing with the ethnic group but I was actually shocked after a few months that I was catering 85 per cent to locals, many of whom would have travelled or lived abroad.
"We stocked every spice that exists in the world. I had to have it. We created a great relationship with our customers. My target was not the money or the profit. The target was to create a service that was needed and what would bring back the customers."
He stressed: "I am glad I had that attitude back then and I try my best to keep that attitude because that’s what keeps you going.
"I always say if you are looking for what’s in the customer’s pocket you will get it once. But if you look at what is in their heart you will get it every day."
During the recession, he said, everyone was looking at figures. He had a struggle and it was one of the hardest times that he went through. But that, he agrees, made him stronger.
Mustapha continued: "In September 1999 I started the grocery and deli and within three or four months I looked at it and realised the grocery would not give me enough to survive because the margin was very low.
"At that time I started the deli too and it was working well with the different types of salads, cheeses, pulses and olives, but there was not enough to survive.
"I am a chef by trade and my first push to establishing a catering business was for a group of vegetarians gathering in Louisburgh for the Millennium.
"They approached me to do food for 100 of them - a starter of onion bhaji and a vegetable curry - that had to be cooked and delivered on December 31, 1999.
"It took me two days to prepare and get things together. It was a challenge and that gave me a boost to know exactly where I stood and what I wanted to do. That worked and within two months I created a small kitchen and I started making different types of sandwiches. We were the first to start creating the pita bread, chapati bread, panini bread, rather than having the same old ordinary sliced bread sandwich.
"What helped us was the diversity of the GMIT students in the Castlebar campus. They made our business very successful. We had a load of customers from there. The word started spreading and we got to a stage that from having two people working, we were employing four.
"Then we thought there were other niches and slowly, slowly we started to get busy."
In July 2002 Mustapha opened The Olive Tree restaurant in Newtown House and the business has grown dramatically since.
He said: "Our most popular dishes that have distinguished us are our chicken korma and kebabs. We try to give authenticity to the dish itself with a twist of a Moroccan taste."
Veganism is big at the moment and Mustapha has a full range of starters, main courses, desserts and all types of drinks which are very popular on the vegan menu which include salads, burritos, burgers, nachos and many more.
Concluding, Mustapha thanked his loyal customers for their support over the years and added: "Every era changes and you have to change with it without losing your standards."
A copy of The Connaught Telegraph of October 20, 1999, which carried his official opening feature, holds pride of place on the restaurant wall.
The Olive Tree, which also does takeaways, is open Monday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 12 noon to 5 p.m., and can be contacted on (094) 9038812.