While most students are fighting through classes toward an uncertain future, Nino Rabhi and Mac Hyman already have made strides toward building their own futures while juggling school work.
The two are co-owners of Spicers Grill, the only food cart taking advantage of East Lansing’s food cart ordinance. The cart, located at the corner of Albert Avenue and Division Street, features Algerian and Mediterranean cuisine, with its primary product being merguez, a halal beef and lamb sausage. The cart fired up its grill for the first time May 4.
“People try to call it a hot dog, and I almost stutter when they say that,” said Hyman, a biochemistry and molecular biology senior.
Rabhi, who comes from an Algerian background, lived in France for four years, where he learned about the popular street food, merguez. It was there that he fell in love with the cuisine and first thought of the idea for a food cart.
“I’ve always wanted to work for myself and be an entrepreneur,” said Rabhi, a food industry and management senior.
Rabhi came up with the name Spicers Grill around the time the business concept was born.
“It’s very descriptive of what it is,” Rabhi said. “(Our merguez) has 12 different spices in it.”
The “eye” in the Spicers Grill logo is the symbol of the Berber, the native people of North Africa, Rabhi said.
“Ninety-eigtht percent of Algerians have Berber in them,” Rabhi said. “I associate myself as a Berber.”
Hyman, who was roommates with Rabhi in 2011, got on board after tasting the sausage at a cookout. Hyman was thoroughly impressed.
“The last thing I ever wanted to do was work in the food business,” Hyman said, shaking his head with a laugh. “It was 100 percent the product that convinced me.”
The friends then began the path to starting up Spicers Grill together, incorporating the business in 2012, Hyman said.
To start the cart, Rabhi funded it with money left to him by his grandfather and forsake a car in favor of financial support from his parents. Other friends, such as Hyman, also invested in the business.
“This is basically my own internship — starting my own business,” Rabhi said.
Spicers Grill vended at the East Lansing Jazz Festival this summer and at several markets. Hyman said the experiences showed them that students are not their only clientele.
“We’re just as equally interested in the East Lansing residents,” Hyman said. “They’ve really come out and shown us support.”
Hyman takes the most pride in Spicers Grill’s support for the Michigan food industry.
“We try to buy everything from Michigan,” Hyman said. “Two things aren’t from Michigan — the Orangina and the harissa hot sauce.”
The duo plans to expand Spicers Grill to other college towns such as Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo. Hyman said they also cater for parties and events.
“We’ve been waiting to do this for so long,” Hyman said. “When it started, it was almost too good to be true. It’s exciting in that terrifying sense where you’re about to start your own roller coaster. But, here we go.”
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