May 11 marks 34 years
since Saboor Sahey left his homeland of Afghanistan for America. The country was
in turmoil and soon would be invaded by Soviet troops, beginning a communist
regime.
With $300 dollars
hidden in a tube of toothpaste, he passed by dozens of armed troops that filled
the airport. Scraping through security with his hidden life-savings intact,
Sahey escaped the war and headed to the US with the few possessions he had
left.
His destination:
Logan, Utah.
A high school friend
of Sahey’s suggested he come to Utah State University, sending him an
application in the mail. Sahey was accepted, but had no money for tuition.
Over the next three
years, Sahey would wash dishes all night until classes started in the morning.
He would work two jobs in the summer to save for the next semester of school at
Utah State.
“I would have to work
40-50 a week just to pay for my food and my room and my board and everything
else,” Sahey said. “I never received a dime from my parents. The war had cut
off all communications with Afghanistan and they couldn’t send a thing.”
By the time he would
graduate, he had risen through the ranks to be the store manager of Sambo’s
restaurant – three years after arriving off a plane with all his savings hidden
in a tube of toothpaste.
He was promoted. He
moved to Oregon as a district manager over several west coast Sambo’s
restaurants. While there he would meet his wife and they would have their first
child, a girl named Angie.
Sambo’s went out of
business, and Sahey returned to Cache Valley to start his own restaurant –
right back where he had taken his first job in Logan.
“We came back to
Logan, got a small loan, talked to the landlord and opened Angie’s in the old
Sambo’s location,” Sahey said. “So I came back to the same restaurant where I
started as a dishwasher.”
In the beginning,
Sahey and his wife worked 19 hour days to keep the restaurant open. He cooked
the meals. She was the waitress. He did all the bookkeeping. She baked all the
desserts and rolls.
“We started with 15
employees,” Sahey said. “For the first year, I opened the restaurant and I
closed the restaurant. I’d be there at five in the morning and close it at
midnight.”
Today, the restaurant
has 75 employees and a clientele that is true to the logo on the sign out
front: “Where the locals eat.”
“I come about twice a
week. From the first time I came, I’ve always been treated like family,” said
customer Anita Kambestad. “They know my name. They talk to me about things that
are going on, about housework, about how my kids are doing.”
Dan Dee visits
Angie’s every Monday for coffee – and meets his friends there most nights of
the week too.
“I love the people
and the coffee,” Dee said.
Despite the countless
hours of work he has put into the restaurant, Sahey credits his customers for
the restaurant’s success.
“Everything I have I
owe to this country and this community. This community supported us through
thick and thin, up to where we are today,” said Sahey. “Wherever we can, we try
to give something back to the community to show our appreciation.”
From local blood
drives to free meals on Thanksgiving, Angie’s is constant and consistent in its
charity. The feeling of family among staff and customer is what makes the
restaurant a household name in Cache Valley.
Whether it’s a group
of students finishing off a tin full of ice cream known as “the Sink”, or a few
old friends getting together to talk about days past, this is a restaurant
ingrained in its community.
“The food is really
good, I enjoy the atmosphere and I enjoy the people,” Kambestad said. “That’s
why I come here.”
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