Yekta opened up its doors in 1979 and initially started off as a small grocery store in Rockville, MD. Our father Yadi Dadras began the business together with our uncle. Prior to this new business in America, our father worked for several years in Iran under the tutelage of his uncle Haj Samad, a reputable grocer in Tehran who operated the largest grocery store in the city.
It was there that our father acquired vast experience and knowledge about the food industry. Our father’s vision for Yekta began as a place where Iranian immigrants could shop to find unique products reminiscent of loving memories from back home. In 1993, our father became the sole proprietor of Yekta.
With the help of our mother Laila, the two of them transformed the little shop into a gourmet supermarket by adding fresh produce and specialty fruits flown in from California that were exclusive to the Middle eastern community. The two also expanded the Deli by turning half of the market into a kabob restaurant and continued to serve Yekta’s famous sandwiches adding delicious kabobs and other Persian delights to the menu. In 1995, we as his two daughters came to join the business.
We worked alongside our father for over 16 years, where in turn he inculcated in us the same values and hard work passed on from his uncle to him. We then became his partners and developed the business further; in 2010 we took on a major reconstruction effort and doubled the size of our supermarket and our restaurant. Yekta today is a testament to all the unrelenting work and dedication our father put into it. Sadly, we lost our father in November of 2011
