Success Stories
Tadu Ethiopian Kitchen
A true embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit, the couple has spent the past two and a half years working feverishly to grow their 10-table restaurant, expanding into catering and bringing on four employees.Tadu Ethiopian Kitchen is an Ethiopian restaurant located in downtown San Francisco. The owners, Selamawet (Nani) Tsegaye and Elias Shawel, are immigrants from Ethiopia and opened their first location in the Tenderloin District in 2014. Their dishes range from vegan chickpeas (kik alicha wot) to lamb and injera (firfir – lamb alicha banatu). Prices for dishes are between $9 and $15 and the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.
A true embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit, the couple has spent the past two and a half years working feverishly to grow their 10-table restaurant, expanding into catering and bringing on four employees. In this time, they’ve seen their revenues grow dramatically, and have become something of an institution within their local community.
After seeing steady profits from Tadu Ethiopian Kitchen, Nani and Elias made the decision to grow their business by opening a second location, House of Tadu. With over a decade of entrepreneurial experience between them, the husband and wife set out to find the ideal location. In doing so, they partnered with Mercy Housing to secure space in San Francisco’s up-and-coming Mission Bay Neighborhood.
As only the second full-service restaurant to open in the area, and the first to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, House of Tadu has positioned itself as the go-to restaurant for medical professionals, local residents, and Warriors fans flocking to the nearly-completed new arena. With the help of a $125,000 loan from Pacific Community Ventures, House of Tadu opened its doors this August, and Elias and Nani have begun the search for 7 additional employees!
Nani told us, “I’m a woman, a minority, an immigrant, and a mother. I am the people who work for me, and that means I can create better jobs because I am them. Investing in businesses owned by people of color will really pay off and create more and better jobs for people like me: people of color, immigrants, women, parents.”
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