Mehdi Zarhloul is the CEO of Crazy Pita Restaurant Group LLC, and the founder of Crazy Pita, a fresh Mediterranean restaurant with three locations based in Nevada. Mehdi has turned Crazy Pita into a hit through his focus on quality food, and excellent service. Not to mention he’s one of the nicest guys in the business!

Here’s a few of our takeaways and Mehdi’s answers to some of our questions:

1) What is the most important aspect of the guest experience?

“How do you interact with that guest? What are you giving that guest? Good food? Well, there is good food anywhere…You can get good service anywhere. But how genuine is that service? How are you connecting with that guest? That’s going to make the difference.

How do you sound on the phone? Are you making a genuine expression? Do you put someone on hold? It’s how you sound. People can feel the smile, they can feel the excitement.

The experience is driven by a wow factor.”

2) What’s something successful you’ve seen or tried lately?

Connecting with the community. “How do you support them? Whenever anybody comes to us and asks for a donation or support, we never say no. We know who you are. You’ve supported us throughout the years, we’ll give it to you. Even if it’s just hummus and pita bread for you and your friends, I will do that.”

3) Who is someone in the industry that deserves an Ovation?

“Any restaurateur that went through the last two years since COVID started… The people that works in the restaurant industry, the ones that show up day and night, and they cut the vegetables for you every day and they cook the meat every day. They deserve to be recognized for what they do.”