Update: Falafelicious’s website is www.FalafeliciousCatering.com.
The popular Falafelicious food truck that has been selling quality Middle Eastern cuisine to Pierce College students for the past two years has now opened a restaurant in Encino, Calif.
Ofir Bass, owner of Falafelicious, decided that he wanted to expand the reach of his business by merging with a family member’s restaurant. He used to manage this restaurant before he started Falafelicious.
He says that he wants to make multiple improvements to his customer service by changing the serving methods as well as getting a better POS System by looking at websites like https://toppossystem.com/restaurant-pos-systems/.
Bass collaborated with the California Mediterranean Grill to merge into one restaurant. While they are using the location of the California Mediterranean Grill in Encino, Bass brings his expertise in catering to the restaurant to add versatility and mobility.
Right now, the cost of an entrée at the Falafelicious food truck located on campus is $5. But Bass assured that the restaurant prices would be above that price.
He said that it will be restaurant-quality food and that the overhead will be different.
“We are going to probably offer some kind of deal for Pierce College students. We are going to come up with something that will workout for everybody,” Bass said.
Bass said there are many more menu items than what you would see at the food truck.
“You can have a plate and side items. We added beef gyros, chicken kabobs and 10 different types of salads,” Bass said.
The future of Falafelicious’ food truck remaining at Pierce College for upcoming semesters is “uncertain,” but Bass remains hopeful to keep feeding the students and faculty of Pierce.
In previous semesters, Pierce would charge food trucks $50 a day for them to park and sell food on campus, but at the start of this semester, the price was pushed up to $100 a day.
Bass did not want to raise prices to make up for the extra rent he would be paying. It is through a high volume of customers that he is able to keep his prices low.
“The food is so delicious,” said Pierce College student Diana Rivas. “They catered for an event in the student services building when I was working and they had sesame chicken, Greek salad, corn salad, and the garlic lemon chicken. I took seconds and thirds home.”
“It’s delicious and the service is great,” said Falafelicious customer Olesya Malykina.
There will be many more menu items at the new restaurant than there are at the food truck, according to Bass.
“I would recommend the bread that we make on-site in a clay oven, its called laffa bread,” said Bass. “One more item that is new is the gyro beef and lamb, and the chicken kabobs are really good.”
The restaurant is located on 17334 Ventura Blvd., Encino.
Correction: The food truck was incorrectly referred to as Falafelicious food truck. Its actual name is Falafelicious Catering.