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rank Zeidan is growing his new business. If biscuit sales are an indicator of success, it will thrive.

Frank Zeidan rings up a customer at the Oriental Mini Mart

Frank is the new owner of the Oriental convenience store formerly known as Mac’s Mini Mart. “I used to come to here on vacation” Frank says. “I got to know the owner Mac and liked the business. Threw it at him one day that I wanted to buy it.” A year later, Frank took over Mac’s business. He now has four employees and is expanding his offerings.

While the core of the business remained unchanged, selling fuel and snacks, Frank has already implemented upgrades. He cleaned out the fuel tanks, added pay at the pump fueling and began offering diesel. Now customers can purchase clean fuel around the clock. Response has been strong, with fuel sales up.

Gassing up: Cal Bridgers fills up his Honda Shadow trike at the newly installed pumps.

Frank also added a grill offering takeout breakfast and lunch. If the pay at the pump option brought in new customers, it’s the grill that brought in the crowds. Mostly, they come for the biscuits.

While most eaterys’ biscuits are hockey puck sized, Frank’s resemble a small calzone. In the case of the cheese biscuits, the cheese is baked right into the dough. Toppings like as bacon, egg and sausage are all cooked on site.

“We make the dough from scratch every night” Frank says. Overnight, the yeast-activated dough rises. In the morning, it is shaped into biscuits. Franks says, “the homemade country cheese biscuits are the most popular. They’re made with pure shredded cheddar cheese that’s baked into the biscuits”.

So how does a stuffed-biscuit recipe end up in a Pamlico County minimart? “It comes from my grandmother,” Frank says. “She was Greek and used to make them that way.” From the line of customers lining up at the register to buy them, they’re a success. Frank says he sells “about 50 of them a day”.

In addition to biscuits, breakfast staples such as sausage, eggs, bacon and pancakes are served. Lunch fare, including pizza, is also available.

Stacey E Gibbs commutes from Merritt to Oriental. He stops by Frank’s daily for breakfast opting for sausage and pancakes with “enough syrup you can almost drink it”.

For Frank, this business of mixing biscuits and fuel is nothing new. He was born into it. Born in Passaic, New Jersey, he grew up in Greenville, North Carolina where his family owned a convenience store. He now lives with his wife, who just graduated from nursing school, and two children on Alligator Loop Road.

In addition to food, fuel, beer and cigarettes, the Oriental Mini Mart offers ice in blocks and cubes. Also available are sliced Boar’s Head meat and cheese as well as fresh-brewed coffee made from “100% fresh-ground Columbian beans”.

The Oriental Mini Mart is open Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm and Sundays 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Frank suggests “folks need to get here by 10:00 am if they want a biscuit”. Still, if customers arrive late and want one, Frank says, “if we can, we’ll cook one special order…”

Birth of a Mini Mart biscuit.

Posted Friday July 9, 2010 by Bernie Harberts