It’s something you can only find in the Eastwood neighborhood of Syracuse. At Sinbad Restaurant, the Middle Eastern eatery’s owner has invented a one-of-a-kind rotary grill.
Assad Almajid, a Syrian refugee who became a U.S. citizen, invented the piece of machinery, in part, to respond to staffing shortages in the restaurant industry.
When Almajid arrives to open for the day, he knows it’s going to be a little bit easier than it once was.
“It’s so hard to run a restaurant, to be honest,” he said.
He started running the restaurant after working double shifts as an accountant while breaking into the restaurant business. He says his one-of-a-kind rotary machine can do the work of an entire employee.
“This machine can do everything,” he said. “Not only shish kebab or chicken or whole lamb, this is for everything.”
The idea for the machine came out of a difficult period in his life. The pandemic left the restaurant with serious staffing shortages.
“I was having three employees and they all disappeared. They’re not coming anymore. So I was working in 2020 for six months totally alone,” he said.
Then, in April of last year, his 7-year-old son needed emergency surgery, and he had to close for a month to be by his side. Almajid spent the time sketching out a design for a machine that would be able to keep up with customer demand, freeing him up to work in other areas of the restaurant.
“I started scratching on paper, started designing. Then I would get better and better and better, until I got the right design,” he said.
Then he teamed up with a friend who was a manufacturer in Turkey to bring his design to life.
“I made an order for the machine, and after like two months, I had the machine,” he said.
And while he acknowledged that rotary machines are fairly common, he said the versatility of his model is what makes it unique.
“This machine is separate. Shish kebabs are one machine. Chicken is one machine, whole lamb is one machine, Shawarma is one machine. This is for everything,” he said.
It's proof, he says, that good things can come out of the challenges life throws.
“Without having one month with my son, waiting for him to be recovered, I couldn’t think about this machine," Almajid said. "So yeah, tough times sometimes give you a good idea.”
He urged other restaurant owners who are interested in the machine to contact him.