Dean's Mediterranean Imports
Kate Zaidan, Second Generation Owner of Dean’s Mediterranean Imports
Dean’s Mediterranean Imports has been an integral staple grocery at Findlay Market for 40 years. Dean Zaidan founded the business in 1985, and at first, he focused on selling freshly roasted nuts. Over time, he added to his stock and became a beloved treasure for Mediterranean pantry staples and indulgent imported goods alike.
Dean’s remains a staple in our community to this day, something that Dean’s daughter, Kate, has worked hard to build upon since she took over the business in 2014. Though she grew up in the tiny 900-square-foot storefront, Kate says her dad never put pressure on her or her sisters to take the business over. “It wasn't like immigrant restaurant owners who were like, ‘You're gonna be a lawyer because you never want to run this place.’ It wasn't like that. He loved his job. He loved building this business. But it was just not an assumption. He said, ‘You're gonna do whatever you want to do, and that's what you should do.’”
Kate found herself in nonprofit work, advocating for transportation reform, women’s rights, and religious freedom, all missions close to her heart. But she hated working at a desk. “I worked in Philadelphia for a number of years, and I was right by Reading Terminal Market. On my lunch breaks, I would go to the market because I needed to see real people and touch produce and have my senses enlivened because I was staring at a screen all day and it was driving me nuts,” she says.
Though she left the non-profit sector to run Dean’s, Kate took with her a handful of principles that she employs in the management of her business. She credits her nonprofit experience with her interest and skillset in building up strong leadership. “I love seeing other people flourish. I love skill building. I love helping people see what they're good at and where the gaps in their skill set lie,” she says. Kate firmly believes that retail and food service are dignified career paths. These fields are often seen as a stepping stone onto something bigger and better, but there’s a lot to be proud of when you work somewhere like Dean’s.
Passing a business from one generation to the next is an incredible feat, second only to building and retaining intergenerational customer relationships. “The beauty of Findlay Market is that our customers have been shopping here for ages,” Kate says. “A lot of times they'll say, ‘I knew your dad when he opened the shop!’ And this was 40 years ago. We see our customers' kids grow up. So the kids that I saw when I was a teenager working the counter are some of the same kids that are now in their 20s and early 30s.” Kate says that four or five of her current staff members are children of longtime Dean’s customers.
She sees the main function of her role in two parts: building a team that feels supported and fulfilled, and being a welcoming presence for customers. Growing a business at a historic public market requires openness of mind, something that remains at the forefront of Dean’s values. “We are truly a melting pot here. We take all kinds,” Kate says. “I really try to kind of embody that Arabic hospitality I learned from my dad.”
In keeping an open mind, Kate listens to her customers’ feedback and employs their suggestions, something Dean instilled in her decades ago. She keeps a notepad behind the counter where she’ll scrawl down ideas that customers give to her when they share a recent food experience they had and loved. This helps dictate what she stocks on the shelves. Stocking 5,000 products is a delicate balance, but something that makes Dean’s as special as it is. Dean and Kate have always gone to food shows to learn more about products from vendors all over the world, sampling some of the best food the globe has to offer. But Kate also keeps her door open to vendors who are passing by and offering samples of their products.
“My favorite thing, and this has happened a number of times, is some random Thursday afternoon, someone will walk into the store and say, ‘I'm selling Turkish delights. Would you like to sample some?’ And I'm like, ‘Absolutely. Yes. So glad you stopped by. The fact that you're selling me cookies out of a van is wonderful,’” Kate laughs.
Kate does her best to strike a balance between holding onto Dean’s methods and tenets for the business, and imparting her own. Among the ways that Kate modernized the business, the inventory tracking system was not one of them. They still use a trusty old clipboard and pen to keep track of the thousands of products in the store, taking an “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” approach. However, prior to last year, there was not a standardized set of recipes for the staff to follow when making some of Dean’s most beloved products like their hummus and baba ghanoush.
“This is one of my favorite stories. We make all our hummus from scratch, and I learned from my dad that you taste it and then you add a little more lemon, and then you taste it again, and then you add a little more salt. And then maybe it needs to be creamier, so you add tahini. And I was like, ‘how do restaurants do this? I can't teach somebody this.’ My colleague asked me, ‘Have you thought about a recipe?’ And I was mind-blown. A recipe. That's a great idea! Why did I not think of that? Embarrassingly, we finally got our recipe book nailed down last year.”
She and her team ironed out the recipes just in time to open their second location after 40 years in business. Their new location was jumpstarted three years ago when the business received a grant from the City of Cincinnati and the Port Authority. Since then, Kate has been navigating the red tape of building out and opening up a restaurant, but she’s looking forward to opening the store this year.
You can expect to find many of the same made-in-house groceries at Dean’s Mediterranean Table that you can find at the Findlay Market location—hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, and the like. The new location boasts an expanded food menu, Turkish coffee service, and a seating area in addition to a scaled back retail section. “I think this is going to capture both the best of everything that we do,” Kate says. “I’m getting more excited by the day.”
Published: July 2025