North Olmsted bakery aims to comfort others with food from home during war

CLEVELAND — North Olmsted is home to a growing Arab community, with more than a dozen Arab-owned businesses along the same stretch of road. Many are owned by Palestinians who are now dealing with the impact of the Israel-Hamas war.

Meat sizzled on the grill at Fire and Dough in North Olmsted, and the man behind the bakery is owner and chef Nizam Suliman.

“Fresh meat, halal, we get it every day fresh and we make it here with our recipes and our spice,” he said.

Suliman has been cooking since he was 13 years old, living in the Middle East.

“Until we just came here, but we were struggling with money, starting a business cost a little bit, it’s not cheap, to do it in the right way you have to spend some good money on it to spend it in the right exact way you want it,” he said.

He arrived in Cleveland in 2013 and was able to start his own business on Oct. 10, 2023. But shortly after opening the restaurant, the Israel-Hamas war began.

“With the war situation overseas, just people have been dying. It’s just like we didn’t have that feeling to do that grand opening or that type of party over here. We just opened and said we can do the grand opening later on,” he said.

Suliman said the war has affected his business.

 “There is a lot of people here who are from Palestine who lost their loved ones family and friends who just didn’t have the feeling to go out or gather with friends and family at restaurants, that type of things affected us a little bit,” he said.

But Suliman said he is grateful to the North Olmsted community for welcoming him and his bakery and hopes peace in his home county will prevail.

“Hopefully, things will get better soon. Peace will be all over the world. That’s our wishes. That’s what I always tell my workers, ‘Everything is going to be good soon,’ hopefully,” he said.