Overview:
Konjo Ethiopian Food is a business run by two immigrants that serves up a variety of fresh cultural dishes.
Fetien Gebre-Michael, co-owner of Konjo Ethiopian Food, was born in Israel to Ethiopian parents. Her family was claiming political asylum in Israel as a result of the war in Ethiopia in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“I moved here [the U.S] when I was three years old,” Gebre-Michael said. “We came here as refugees. My father came here first and then he sent for my mom and my family once he was established with work and housing. He was here on his own for a couple of years, so he knew that he had to make sure that he could take care of us and make sure that we had a roof over our head.”
Gebre-Michael grew up in the States, specifically in Colorado, with her 11 other siblings. She was raised in an Ethiopian household and the culture has always been embedded in her. Growing up, she would make home-cooked meals of Ethiopian cuisine for her siblings in large portions due to having a large family. While studying for her major in marketing and a minor in management at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU), Gebre-Michael started to focus on selling Ethiopian cuisine.
“My parents are also business owners and they have various businesses,” Gebre-Michael said. “I see that from a young age, how hard they work, how hard they hustle and yet still are humble and making sure that we stay true to our roots and stay true to our community. So, in 2008, I launched Konjo Catering [which means beautiful in Amharic]. That was the first and only Ethiopian catering company in Colorado.”
After attending numerous events and with word of mouth, Konjo Ethiopian Food started to grow and expand into what it is today. In 2015, Gebre-Michael’s good friend, Yoseph Assefa, approached her to discuss opening Denver’s first and only Ethiopian food truck.
“She was doing her catering thing and she was doing great; I loved her food,” Assefa said. “My idea was to start a food truck, and that was around the time when the food truck boom was happening and there were no food trucks that sold Ethiopian food in Colorado. I asked her if she wanted to do this together and she was open to it.”
Before becoming business partners with Gebre-Michael, Assefa was born and raised in Ethiopia by immigrant parents. He and his family moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma when he was 13 years old and lived there for three years. Then he and his family settled in Fort Collins, where he finished his last two years of high school and went to Colorado State University (CSU). Assefa, like Gebre-Michael, understands what it means to have immigrant parents.
“Your parents are in that survival mode when they get here, so they’re wanting and willing to do anything to kind of make ends meet and make sure the kids are okay,” Assefa said. “That’s the benefit for me because I grew up watching that. So, getting out there, starting my own business and hustling, running around and trying to make something happen out of nothing. It was very normal work, very natural to me; those were the benefits of having those immigrant parents.”
It took the dynamic duo three to four months to find and build out the food truck so that they could begin serving their homemade dishes.
“The food truck is super fun,” Gebre-Michael said. “It is [a part] of the food truck community. Where you get to know one another and you see each other in different events and you kind of grow with one another. Through trial and error, we learned that festivals were our jam because people go there for something different. We built up a clientele whereby they’ll book us for private events and neighborhood stuff.”
After thriving off the food trucking side of the business, Gebre-Michael and Assefa expanded their authentic meals and business into the first-ever fast-casual Ethiopian restaurant in 2019, located on the west side of Denver in the Edgewater Public Market.
At Konjo Ethiopian Food, there are many vegan options and meats that the customer can choose from where they can enjoy delicious and original foods from Ethiopia. Gebre-Michael’s favorite dish is beef tibs, which she usually serves with Kik [yellow split peas] or Gomen [seasoned spinach and potatoes].
Being located on the West side of town has its advantages, according to Assefa. Konjo is the only Ethiopian restaurant located in West Denver. This gives Konjo Ethiopian Food that edge over the other Ethiopian restaurants that are located in Aurora.
“It makes me feel super proud [being located on the West side of town] because one, I love representing my culture everywhere and if I can go somewhere where it’s not being represented, that’s an opportunity,” Assefa said.
Assefa also says that having the truck allowed him to test other parts of the city to see where people would come to eat their food. Now, having their restaurant in the Edgewater Public Market helps to build their brand even more.
“The fact that we had built a clientele with the food truck and with the community, we were able to filter and push all those people towards the restaurant, so now, we are open seven days a week,” said Gebre-Michael.
The pair have high hopes for Konjo Ethiopian Food’s future and they both plan on building their brand and expanding their businesses.
“We want to have multiple locations,” Gebre-Michael said. “We’re trying to eventually get into the airport, we’re hoping that happens in the next couple of years. Then we’re trying to get into the retail side as well, where we package and bottle our hot sauces and spices so just [earning] different streams of revenue.”
“I hope the brand is a lot bigger,” Assefa adds. “The exciting thing about it is that Ethiopian food has so much room to even get close to where Mexican, Chinese and even Thai food is at. We should be able to do some big things in that lane because there’s not a lot of people doing what we’re doing.”
