When Alona Shavi’s father Yossef Shavi and the rest of the immediate family set out to create a food truck in the Baltimore area, they did so with a love for cooking but limited professional kitchen experience. Yossef Shavi’s father owned a restaurant, but prior to starting Yossef’s Laffa-Milia food truck, the titular Yossef worked in auto repair.

But the family was well-versed in the cooking that is integral to their Middle Eastern heritage and believed that with quality dishes, hard work and smiles they could have success in a difficult industry.

Less than two years after the food truck was founded, the Shavi’s — Yossef, Hana Shavi, Alona, Rona and Eedan — are opening their first brick-and-mortar location in Owings Mills. It was soon after starting the food truck that the family realized they might have a hit on their hands.

“It was relatively early on,” Alona Shavi said. “We were hopeful with the food truck — we were like, ‘OK, we’ll do a nice, fresh lunch and we’ll serve delicious falafel, and then it will be done.’ And it just evolved. When we added the grill, that’s really when things took off to another level.”

Yossef’s Laffa-Milia — both the food truck and new restaurant — have Israeli staples like falafel in pita, shawarma plates, schnitzel, fried eggplant and more. The Owings Mills location is on South Dolfield Road and had its soft opening last week to prepare for a full scale opening in March.

At Yossef’s, the restaurant is named after the patriarch, but the entire family pitches in.

“We can all cook,” Alona Shavi said. “We all cook different things.”

Alona Shavi is mostly responsible for what she called behind the scenes things, like social media and the website.

“My dad does a lot of the ordering and shopping and choosing and picking all sorts of [ingredients],” she said. “My mom does all the baking.”

A “figure-it-out” attitude is integral to the Shavis’ way. Alona Shavi said that their whole lives, her parents have run businesses and worked hard together.

“They’ve always owned their own business. When they were in Israel, they owned a fruits and vegetables store. They had a clothing store at some point before that. When we came here, they had their own car shop and dealerships and all sorts of things,” she said. “I’m very much like them in the sense that I’ve always run different types of businesses.”

While the immediate family may be taking its first crack at the restaurant business, the results show their acquired business acumen and skill in the kitchen.

“Food is something we grew up with — good food, and lots of different types of food. It’s just something we’ve always done,” Alona Shavi said.

When the new location fully opens, it will mark an exciting expansion for the family. While some have asked why they chose Owings Mills instead of the area’s predominant Jewish hub of Pikesville, most everyone has just been excited to be able to get more access to the Shavis’ delicious dishes.

“Especially since we closed the food truck in preparation for about a month or so, people from the community have asked us when we are opening,” Alona Shavi said. “Everybody’s just been so excited and we share in that excitement. I don’t think people even realize how excited we are and how grateful we are to be here. It’s incredible.”

Alona Shavi said that the people who come to the food truck — which will be reopening with a dedicated staff relatively soon — and the new restaurant are the best part of the job. She described herself and her family members as “people people.”

“Certain things took some figuring out in the beginning, but like I said, we all excel at different things, and we love talking to people and getting to know people. That’s probably the most fun part of the job — meeting so many people and learning so much about where they come from and what types of things they like. We just enjoy the company so much,” she said.

This all started when the Shavi parents retired and decided life of relaxation wasn’t for them, at least not yet. It has become something with much more value to them, and the community, than they could have originally pictured.

“They got really bored, and my dad started thinking too much,” Alona Shavi joked. “We always talked about how we think that Baltimore deserves more delicious kosher food options, and I said, ‘let’s just open a food truck for lunch for a couple of hours, and then we’ll go home.’ It evolved, and it became something bigger than we could have ever imagined.”

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com