Frenchi’s Deli & Market Serves More Than Just Food

Frenchi chats with customer and University of Pittsburgh student Paul Williams. Frenchi is famous among Pitt’s student body.

words: Sara Saltiel

photos: Sara Saltiel

Standing on an elevated platform behind a cash register, Frenchi greets every customer like an old friend. In the span of five minutes, he has a lively conversation in French with a foreign customer, asks an older woman how her family is doing, asks a student how his exams went and lets a regular buy a pack of cigarettes on credit.

Tucked away on Atwood Street in the heart of Oakland stands Frenchi’s Deli and Market. It may seem nondescript, but the man running the show is anything but. Said Ali, nicknamed Frenchi because of his nationality, opened Frenchi’s a little over a year ago and makes a point to create a familiar and welcoming atmosphere.

“We don’t want people to come here … and, you know how you go to some stores and the person behind the cash register is like a robot?” Frenchi says. “I really like to interact with our customers, and I don’t even like to call them customers because most of them are really like friends.”

This mentality is evident in everything that Frenchi does. He is a bon ami first and a businessman second.

“We are not here just to make money even though it is a business,” Frenchi says. “We try to make it more, I guess, lovely than just, you know, the relationship between customer and business.”

To follow through on his words, every Sunday he collects food, money and warm clothes for the homeless. He lets customers buy items with credit, trusting them to pay him back. If it’s someone’s first time ordering a sandwich, they get a free pop or bag of chips. If someone is hungry but doesn’t have the money, he lets them have a sandwich for free.

Not everyone approves of his methods. Frenchi recalls that a former employee gave him a hard time after he saw Frenchi give a first-time customer a free bag of chips with his sandwich. Frenchi has heard this many times but does not let it affect how he runs his business.

“It is hard to understand other people’s mentality when you don’t have the same heart or feeling,” he says. “It’s not always about money. It’s not always about chasing that penny.”

Sometimes those noble intentions can backfire. He lent €3,000 to his cousin over a year ago and still has not received anything back. He has let regulars take a pack of cigarettes and has not received payment for them. But thanks to his upbringing, no matter how many times this happens, Frenchi’s sense of compassion shines through.

Frenchi was born in Paris and lived with his family until high school, when he was recruited to play basketball for a prestigious school outside of the city. He transferred to a high school in Florida for his last year, and upon graduating, he decided to stay in the U.S. with his brother in Cleveland, eventually moving to Pittsburgh.

Even though he moved away from his mother, he has never forgotten her teachings. She was the figurative mother in their neighborhood, and a lot of the neighbors even called her mom. Frenchi cites her kindness as his inspiration.

“She will tell you, like, ‘God bless us with this,’ ‘If someone ask for it give it to them,’” Frenchi says. “Maybe God test us with what we have to see if we are going to be stingy and greedy, and that was a very big impact on my life.”

Frenchi’s kindness is well known in his little piece of Oakland. As day turns to night and students walking to the bar replace students walking to class, every other passerby yells a hello to Frenchi through the open door. People stop in just to see how he is doing. Students perusing the aisles of mostly junk food and ready-made meals stop to have a chat or invite him to a party.

Frenchi’s Deli & Market is the go-to stop for University of Pittsburgh students looking for anything from a midday lunch to a late night snack.

Two Pitt students, Colleen McLaughlin, a regular, and Emily Szopinski, a recent Frenchi’s convert, talk over each other as they try to convey what Frenchi’s means to them.

“It’s homey,” McLaughlin says. “I introduced myself last year, and he is so good at remembering everyone.”

Szopinski agrees.

“Yesterday was my first day, and I felt like a regular. It’s a hidden gem,” Szopinski says as Colleen nods her head in agreement.

Connecting with neighbors was not always so easy for Frenchi. After moving to Pittsburgh to help train employees at a market he had worked for in Cleveland, he realized if he could run someone else’s store, why not his own?

Once his store was opened, he encountered an unwelcoming neighbor across the street who would not return his relentless “Hello’s” and “Good morning’s.”

“Every morning I tried, which sometimes you know, kindness and love, it’s really easy because I don’t give up on them,” Frenchi says.

One day his hard work paid off. The man came into the store and Frenchi gave him a sandwich for free. Frenchi won him over, and the older gentleman is now a regular. Being kind even when it is hard to do so is Frenchi’s philosophy as a person and a business owner.

“It is never too late,” he says. “If you always do something kind, the light will always reach any darkness.”