Articles Written
about Wholesome Choice
OCmetro
http://www.execusite.com/hallcpas/files/OC%20MetroB5-06.pdf
WHEN MIKE MOKHTARE MOVED TO Irvine after the 1979 “Islamic Revolution” forced him to leave his native Iran, he had to drive 50 miles just to reach a market that sold the Persian foods he missed. Today, the 57-year-old entrepreneur owns Wholesome Choice, a bustling Irvine grocery store that offers the region’s widest selection of Persian foods. It’s also a crosscultural smorgasbord where shoppers can find Chinese sauces, kosher fish, Indian curries, Russian breads and Mexican spices. “People living in the United States like to explore new worlds of foods. They are open-minded,” said Mokhtare. “This area has Chinese, Jewish, Persian, South African, Orthodox Jewish, Russian, Indian and Eastern European communities. Our idea was to bring these different cultures, and also white Caucasians, under one ceiling.” Mokhtare designed his store to encourage a mingling of cultures - there are no separate Persian or Asian aisles. On the juice aisle, imported Persian sour grape juice sits nearSouth African fruit juices, while on the bread aisle, mashadi flat breads share space with traditional American sandwich loaves. He also offers an extensive selection of prepared hot food, where diners can buyeverything from kebabs and tikka masala to sushi and pizza. By stocking hard-to-find kosher foods and halal meats - which are prepared and stored according to strict Muslim requirements - he has built a loyal following among religious shoppers. A midday visit to Wholesome Choice suggests that Mokhtare’s vision is payingoff. Office workers on their lunch break crowd the counters of Wholesome Choice’s international food court. At the front, cashiers ring up lines of shoppers four to five people deep.
“We are the busiest grocery store in Irvine, in terms of foot traffic, and we are one of the highest sales-volume grocery stores in Orange County,” Mokhtare says. Mokhtare opened Wholesome Choicein July, 2003, at the corner of Culver and Michelson at the site of a former Wild Oats grocery store. Wholesome Choice now employs 180 people. Mokhtare says he plans to open more stores, and is scouting for locations in south Orange County and San Diego.
No one knows exactly how many Iranian-Americans live in Orange Countyor in the United States. The U.S. census estimates there are 330,000 Iranian Americans in the nation, but groups like the National Iranian American Council - a Washington-based lobby group - estimate the numbers to be three times higher, since census forms do not offer an “Iranian” box to check.
Most of the county’s Iranian-American families immigrated around the time that Mokhtare did, after religious theocrats overthrew Iran’s last shah, Reza Pahlavi, in 1979.Highly educated as a class, Iranian-Americans have ascended the ranks of Orange County’s business, academic and professional circles.
Mokhtare - who was born in the city of Tabriz and received an MBA from a Turkish university ? had founded an import business in Iran just before the revolution. He moved to Irvine with his wife and infant son to start over, becoming a wholesale food importer. Living as an immigrant in multicultural America enabled Mokhtare to appreciate other cultures and see how an eye for diversity can improve a business’ bottom line. “When I was living in Iran, I never thought about how other cultures might be important for businesses like ours,” he says. OCM