The owners of Tahini Mediterranean Cuisine allege Kent State set their restaurant up for failure.

The university unexpectedly shut down the popular campus eatery in October after terminating its lease agreement. Ayham Abuzeid, co-owner of Tahini and associate lecturer of English, disputed the university’s claim that it did not address repeated health code violations.

“Kent State, from the beginning of the semester, has been cooking to get us out,” Abuzeid said.

University Culinary Services sent a letter to Abuzeid and his business partner, Layla Alchaer, notifying them of Tahini’s immediate closure on Oct. 22, 2024. The letter cited failure to correct health department violations and a lack of communication with the university for the closure.

Violations

Since 2022, the Kent City Health Department recorded 21 critical violations and 64 non-critical violations in the restaurant. While the violations outnumbered other locations in the Kent State Student Center, Abuzeid said many of these violations were either the university’s responsibility to address, such as lighting in the dining room, or a normal part of operating a new business.

He also attributed issues such as improper dating on food to international students using different date formats that placed the day before the month.

“We were never given any training, any support, any help that would make us do better,” Abzueid said.

Tahini was responsible for training its own staff under the contract with the university. Abuzeid said that because the restaurant started out as a local food truck they faced a learning curve the first few semesters of operation.

By the time the university ended its partnership, the restaurant was regularly receiving a few non-critical violations. In its last inspection, which was ordered after a fryer fire, there were zero violations.

“As a public health person who loves food, I’m looking at this report and I’m not seeing anything that would make me not want to eat there,” said Justin Smith, the chief sanitarian with the Kent City Health Department. “You can walk into the Ritz and still find non-critical violations in their kitchen.”

The university deferred all comments to its October letter.

Inaccuracies in Letter 

The October letter said the Portage County Health Department conducted health inspections at the restaurant. However, the department confirmed in a phone call that it does not conduct health inspections on the Kent campus.

In an email, Cesquinn Curtis, associate vice president of the Division of Student Life, said there was an error in the letter and that Kent City Health Department conducted the inspections.

The letter also listed several key dates to outline Tahini’s correspondences with the university. Abuzeid and Alchaer disputed the dates, including an Aug. 7, 2024, meeting between the business owners and three university employees.

Alchaer said the meeting could not have happened because she was in Syria. Abuzeid also denied receiving emails from the university listed in the letter.

The letter was signed by Eboni Pringle, senior vice president of student life, and Mark Polatajko, senior vice president of finance and administration. Pringle declined to comment.

What Comes Next

Abuzeid said the restaurant was a dream for him and Alchaer. The two met in an English as a Second Language class taught by Abuzeid and quickly bonded over their Syrian heritage.

They said they took pride in their healthy offerings that introduced Mediterranean cuisine to students.

“We made culinary services look bad,” Abuzeid said. “Our food is very good.”

Before the termination letter, Abuzeid and Alchaer said they expected to reopen Tahini’s doors for students. Now, the university is pursuing other plans for the space known as The Rathskeller.

Abuzeid said the university is no longer communicating with him and Alchaer. The two added they believe their contract was wrongfully terminated and said they have retained lawyers to eventually file a lawsuit against the university.

Lauren Cohen contributed reporting.

Alton Northup is news director. Contact him at [email protected].