Lebanese-born chef Edouard “Edy” Massih transformed a longtime Polish market in Brooklyn into Edy’s Grocer, combining Lebanese food, immigrant history, neighborhood preservation, catering, and culinary education.
Editorial Note
Minority-Owned Business Spotlight is a New To Education series featuring businesses with publicly documented minority, immigrant, Indigenous, women, veteran, or historically underrepresented founder stories.
This article is provided for educational and informational purposes. Inclusion does not constitute sponsorship, paid promotion, a purchasing recommendation, or a claim that the business holds a particular government minority-business certification. Menus, prices, services, ownership details, and operating hours may change.
When Edouard “Edy” Massih opened Edy’s Grocer in Brooklyn, he did not erase the business that had occupied the storefront before him.
He built upon it.
The Greenpoint location had previously operated as Maria’s Deli, a Polish neighborhood market established in 1978. When longtime owner Maria Puk retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, she offered Massih the opportunity to take over the space.
Massih transformed it into North Brooklyn’s first Lebanese market and deli while preserving parts of its Polish history. Today, Edy’s Grocer sells imported Middle Eastern pantry products, house-made mezze, prepared foods, catering services, spices, gifts, and dishes inspired by Massih’s Lebanese upbringing.
The result is more than a food business.
It is an example of how immigrant entrepreneurs can introduce their own culture while respecting the communities that shaped a neighborhood before them.
From Lebanon to the United States
Massih was born and raised in Lebanon and moved to the United States when he was ten years old.
His relationship with food began through family, particularly the meals and traditions connected to his grandmothers. Lebanese cooking became one way for him to maintain a sense of identity after immigration.
Moving to the United States was not immediately easy.
Massih has described struggling with English, attending ESL classes, and experiencing bullying after arriving. Cooking gave him a space where he could feel capable and connected to the life he had left behind.
When his high school removed cooking classes because of budget limitations, Massih did not simply accept the loss. He petitioned to create an after-school cooking club, which eventually developed into a local public-access cooking program.
That part of his story gives Edy’s Grocer a particularly strong educational dimension.
Massih’s early leadership did not begin inside a professional kitchen. It began when a student recognized that an important learning opportunity had disappeared and created an alternative.
Culinary Education Created a Career Path
Massih later attended the Culinary Institute of America and worked in professional kitchens before becoming a private chef and caterer in New York.
Culinary school provided technical knowledge, but his family experience gave him a deeper understanding of the flavors and emotional meaning behind Lebanese food.
Both forms of education mattered.
Formal training can teach sanitation, production systems, knife skills, costing, menu development, and professional standards. Family knowledge can provide cultural context, memory, flavor judgment, and traditions that may never appear in a textbook.
Massih’s career demonstrates that education does not come from only one source.
A successful entrepreneur may combine university or vocational training with knowledge learned from parents, grandparents, neighborhoods, and personal experience.
That combination helped Massih develop food that felt rooted in Lebanese traditions while remaining adaptable to New York customers.
The Pandemic Forced a Business Reinvention
Before opening Edy’s Grocer, Massih operated a catering business.
When the COVID-19 pandemic caused events to be canceled, the business lost much of its regular work. He responded by creating quarantine menus and delivering home-cooked meals to customers.
The temporary service proved popular.
At the same time, Maria Puk was preparing to retire from the Polish deli she had operated in Greenpoint for decades. Massih had become a regular customer and close friend, and the two had previously discussed the possibility that he might one day take over the business.
The pandemic accelerated that transition.
Edy’s Grocer opened in August 2020, only months after Massih’s catering work had been disrupted.
This is a useful lesson in entrepreneurial adaptation.
Massih could not control the event cancellations, public-health restrictions, or uncertainty surrounding the hospitality industry. He could control how quickly he responded and whether he treated the disruption as the end of one business or the beginning of another.
The strongest entrepreneurs are not people who avoid every crisis.
They are often the people who learn how to change direction without abandoning the skills, relationships, and knowledge they already possess.
Preserving the Store’s Polish History
One of the most distinctive parts of Edy’s Grocer is the way it honors the history of Maria’s Deli.
Massih did not redesign the store as though nothing had existed before him. He retained parts of the previous business’s identity and included Polish items and dishes alongside Lebanese food.
This decision reflects an understanding of how neighborhood businesses function.
A small grocery store is not only a retail space. It can become part of a community’s memory.
Customers may associate it with childhood errands, immigrant settlement, relationships with the owner, and the changing identity of the neighborhood.
When a new entrepreneur takes over such a location, modernization can easily become erasure.
Massih chose another path.
By preserving Polish elements while introducing Lebanese products, he created a business that recognizes two immigrant histories rather than treating them as competitors.
That approach also reflects the wider story of New York.
Neighborhoods change continuously as different communities arrive, establish businesses, move, and leave behind institutions that newer residents reinterpret.
Edy’s Grocer shows how cultural change can happen through addition rather than replacement.
More Than a Grocery Store
Edy’s Grocer sells imported products from across the Middle East, including oils, spices, pickled goods, sweets, grains, flours, dried fruits, nuts, rose water, orange-blossom water, molasses, and pantry staples. Many products are repackaged or prepared in-house.
The business also serves prepared food.
Its offerings have included man’oushe, shawarma, labneh, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, fattoush, tabbouleh, rice dishes, dips, baked goods, and changing seasonal meals.
Beyond the market and deli, the company operates catering services for weddings, corporate events, private dinners, and large mezze spreads.
This diversified model creates several revenue streams.
A customer may visit for lunch, return for imported groceries, purchase a spice kit online, book a catered event, or buy the company’s cookbook.
Diversification can make a small business more resilient because it does not depend entirely on one type of customer transaction.
It also requires careful operations.
Retail inventory, prepared food, catering, private events, online orders, and publishing all involve different schedules, costs, regulations, and customer expectations.
The challenge is making each part feel connected to the same brand rather than operating like several unrelated businesses.
Cultural Education Through Food
Massih has described Edy’s Grocer as a way to preserve and share Lebanese culture through food.
Customers who enter the store may recognize hummus or shawarma but know little about Lebanese regional cooking, pantry ingredients, breakfast traditions, or the differences among Middle Eastern cuisines.
The grocer creates opportunities for informal education.
A customer may learn why za’atar varies by region, how pomegranate molasses is used, what labneh is, or why rose water and orange-blossom water appear in both savory and sweet dishes.
That education becomes especially important because Middle Eastern food is often grouped into one broad category.
Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian, Turkish, Egyptian, Armenian, Iraqi, Yemeni, and other culinary traditions influence one another, but they are not interchangeable.
A responsible business can introduce customers to regional connections while still naming the culture and history behind individual dishes.
Massih’s cookbook, Keep It Zesty, expanded that educational work by sharing recipes and stories connected to his Lebanese upbringing and Edy’s Grocer.
Representation Beyond the Food
Massih is also open about being a queer Middle Eastern business owner.
He has discussed the importance of visibility for younger LGBTQ+ chefs and entrepreneurs who may not often see themselves represented within traditional food businesses or Middle Eastern communities.
That visibility matters because people rarely experience identity in only one category.
A founder may be Lebanese, an immigrant, queer, a chef, an employer, a neighborhood resident, and a small-business owner at the same time.
Businesses led by people with intersecting identities can expand public understanding of what a Middle Eastern entrepreneur looks like.
They can also create workplaces and customer spaces where people feel welcomed without requiring the founder to separate culture from identity.
Representation alone does not guarantee that a business is well managed or inclusive.
It does create possibilities for customers and employees who have rarely seen themselves reflected in ownership and leadership.
What Future Entrepreneurs Can Learn
The first lesson from Edy’s Grocer is that relationships can become part of a business opportunity.
Massih did not acquire a random storefront through an anonymous transaction. He developed a long relationship with the owner, understood the neighborhood, and inherited a space with existing trust and history.
The second lesson is to adapt existing skills.
When catering disappeared, Massih did not abandon food entirely. He used the same cooking, customer-service, and organizational skills in a different format.
The third lesson is to respect what came before.
Entrepreneurship is often presented as disruption, but preserving part of an older business can also create value.
The fourth lesson is that cultural knowledge can differentiate a company when it is shared with clarity rather than reduced to decoration.
Finally, education can continue after the product is sold.
Recipes, cookbooks, demonstrations, interviews, and conversations with customers can turn a business into a source of cultural learning.
Key Takeaways
Edy’s Grocer was founded by Lebanese-born chef Edouard “Edy” Massih and opened in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in August 2020.
The business replaced a longtime Polish deli while preserving parts of its former identity and neighborhood history.
Massih built the grocer after the pandemic disrupted his catering company, demonstrating how entrepreneurs can adapt during a crisis.
Edy’s Grocer combines a market, deli, catering company, private-event business, online store, and cookbook platform.
The company provides an educational example of Lebanese cultural preservation, immigrant entrepreneurship, neighborhood succession, culinary training, and LGBTQ+ representation within business ownership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Edy’s Grocer?
Edy’s Grocer was founded by Lebanese-born chef and entrepreneur Edouard “Edy” Massih.
Where is the business located?
The grocer is located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, at 136 Meserole Avenue. Customers should confirm current hours through the official website.
What does Edy’s Grocer sell?
It sells Lebanese and Middle Eastern groceries, spices, prepared foods, mezze, pantry products, gifts, cookbooks, and catering services.
What business occupied the location before Edy’s Grocer?
The storefront previously housed Maria’s Deli, a longtime Polish neighborhood market.
Is Edy’s Grocer formally certified as a minority-owned business?
Public sources document Massih’s Lebanese immigrant background and ownership of the company. This article does not claim that the business holds a specific government minority-business certification.
Final Thoughts
Edy’s Grocer was born from disruption, but its strongest quality may be continuity.
Edouard Massih created a new Lebanese business without pretending that the neighborhood’s earlier history did not matter.
He carried forward the memory of a Polish immigrant-owned deli while creating space for his own Lebanese recipes, pantry ingredients, identity, and community.
That balance offers a valuable lesson.
Entrepreneurs do not always have to choose between preserving the past and creating something new.
They can do both.
Edy’s Grocer shows how a storefront can hold several histories at once and how food can help customers understand the people who created them.
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Sources
Edy’s Grocer — Official Website
https://edysgrocer.com/
Edy’s Grocer — Our Story
https://edysgrocer.com/about
Edy Massih — Founder Biography
https://www.edymassih.com/meet-edy
Brooklyn Magazine — Open Kitchen: A Conversation With Edy Massih
https://www.bkmag.com/2026/05/06/open-kitchen-edy-massih-edys-grocer-greenpoint-lebanese-food-interview/
The New Yorker — In Greenpoint, Edy’s Grocer Offers Lebanese Food With a Nod to the Polish Past
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/07/in-greenpoint-edys-grocer-offers-lebanese-food-with-a-nod-to-the-polish-past
Condé Nast Traveler — From Beirut to Brooklyn, Edy Massih Has Carried His Grandmothers’ Recipes
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/from-beirut-to-brooklyn-edy-massih-has-carried-his-grandmothers-recipes
The Spruce Eats — How Queer-Owned Edy’s Grocer Builds Connections in Brooklyn
https://www.thespruceeats.com/edys-grocer-queer-owned-middle-eastern-market-connections-6503947
