A dispute that started during Ramadan between a northeast Minneapolis cafe owner and the city has led to allegations of police and city harassment along with a drop in business.
Michael Mokhalad, owner of Mrs. Dessert & Kumpir, says the issue started as a misunderstanding that evolved into “harassment” by law enforcement.
Mokhalad attempted to get a temporary license to extend his hours during Ramadan. Those licenses became available in 2015 after the city approved an ordinance allowing businesses to apply for temporary permits to stay open late during the Islamic holy month.
But he was never approved to stay open.
“Sales have dropped, it’s really, really bad.” Mokhalad said. “People are saying my business is bringing the crime and violence.”
Now Mokhalad says he’s looking for a new location after receiving multiple citations from the city for operating after hours during Ramadan.
Records from city officials show that the police enforcement began after a large group altercation and shooting near his business. Both Mokhalad and the city confirmed that the business was operating after hours.
Mokhalad said he was trying to work with the city to get an after-hours permit, but as the fines mounted, he just wanted to cover his costs.
“I’ll stay open because I’m getting a citation anyway. Instead of losing money, let’s make money,” he said.
A Ramadan rush after sunset
Mrs. Dessert & Kumpir opened in late 2023 at 339 22nd Ave. N.E. after Mokhalad said he had the idea of bringing Turkish street food and sweets to the Twin Cities.
“I bring in some stuff that’s unique to the state, bring them to the community, and then let people come from all over the place,” Mokhalad said.
It was his first venture into business ownership but not management. It was also his introduction to the northeast Minneapolis community.
The bakery and cafe serves rolled ice cream, Turkish desserts, cakes and kumpir, which are Turkish baked potatoes.
Mokhalad said during Ramadan there’s always a rush after sunset when Muslims are allowed to break their fast but more people show up later in the night since some people prefer to go pray first before eating.
During a visit to the bakery last month, more than a dozen customers were lined up in the tiny space waiting for food.
Some people that night waited more than 10 minutes to order. Mokhalad told Sahan Journal his goal is for customers to wait no more than 15 minutes before getting their food.
On the day of the visit, Mokhalad had just received his third citation for staying open after hours.
He’d go on to receive a fourth before Ramadan was over.
Mokhalad also said his business has suffered because of this, and that during Ramadan his sales dropped 85% due to the city of Minneapolis not allowing him to stay open later.
“Every single night more than 20 missed calls from people,” Mokhalad said. “Because I was opening [late] and then now I can’t.”
Mrs. Dessert & Kumpir is licensed to close at 10 p.m. daily, but during Ramadan, which started on March 10, Mokhalad wanted his business to stay open later.
He inquired about applying for a temporary license to extend his hours of operation.
On March 15, a city inspector sent Mokhalad application materials to extend his hours. A copy of Mokhalad’s application he sent to Sahan Journal shows that he signed the application that day.
Immediately after turning in his application, Mokhalad said he began extending his hours, staying open until about 3 a.m.
And business picked up, according to him.
“I was selling almost 300 pieces of each flavor of the cake, now I’m lucky on the weekend, the best days, I sell like 40 to 50,” Mokhalad said.
Mokhalad said he turned the application into the Minneapolis Police Department’s First Precinct and didn’t hear back from the city.
Nearby shooting brings scrutiny
Mokhalad operated at extended hours for about 10 days, but the back-and-forth battle between him and the city began after a shooting occurred near his business.
At about 1:30 a.m. on March 24, police responded to the 300 block of 22nd Avenue Northeast, the same block Mrs. Dessert and Kumpir is located on, to reports of a disturbance involving a large group of people outside. Shortly afterward, there were multiple reports of gunfire.
A 17-year-old male and a 21-year-old male later arrived at Hennepin Healthcare with noncritical gunshot wounds. No arrests have been made in the case, and it’s unclear where exactly the shooting occurred. The public police report for the incident does not list an exact address.
Mokhalad said that night he heard different variations of what happened but he thinks the shooting happened up the street from the bakery.
In an email included in a public records request filed by Sahan Journal, Amy Duncan Lingo, manager of licenses and consumer services for the city, said she was notified about the shooting the next day. She wrote that “there was not an Extended Hours Conditional Use Permit nor that there was any pending or approved Extended Hours of Operations license.”
Lingo also told Sahan Journal that the city of Minneapolis didn’t approve any license applications to temporarily extend hours for Ramadan this year.
“We only receive a few temporary extended hours applications a year. We did not enter any this year,” Lingo said.
Because the incident was a large group fight and multiple people were shot, Lingo writes that the city moved directly to a $200 citation against Mokhalad. Lingo said an inspector “spoke and emailed with the owner throughout the day. It was made clear that they were not to be open without approval.”
Citations pile up
Two days later, on March 27, police came back to the bakery for a follow-up inspection and said the business was still operating past 10 p.m. The city issued a second citation for $400.
Lingo wrote that she met with Mokhalad on March 27.
“Mr. Mokhalad told me of their struggles with slow business in the morning, which I understood but I stated again that his opening late unauthorized and unsecure created a dangerous environment for the neighborhood,” Lingo wrote.
During this time, Mokhalad learned his application wasn’t submitted to the right precinct. After trying to resubmit it, he ran into another roadblock.
Lingo said she took Mokhalad’s application, but said she would not process or approve it unless an inspector approved Mokhalad’s security plan. That plan was not approved, Lingo wrote.
Lingo wrote that another incident occurred on April 2; it’s unclear what that incident was.
“This incident clearly showed not only that they were still open beyond approved hours but that them being open was creating an unstable and dangerous situation,” Lingo wrote.
An $800 citation was then issued against Mokhalad.
Lingo went on to write that she does not have the authorization to carry out an emergency closure of the business, but that the city’s “progressive enforcement” can lead to the business’ main license being revoked.
A city spokeswoman clarified the application to temporarily extend hours for Mrs. Dessert & Kumpir was filed “after the initial citations.”
Mokhalad maintains he submitted it, although to the incorrect precinct, before his first citation.
Meanwhile he said he’s begun looking for another location to move his business after receiving multiple citations.
“I don’t know if it’s the third, fourth or fifth [citation],” Mokhalad said. “I didn’t even open it because I don’t have the energy anymore.”
The city also taped a sign to his front window after his first citation, warning customers that the business has to close at 10 p.m.
Mokhalad said the sign was confusing customers and affecting his business so he took it down.
“Even though they’re gonna send me a citation for it, because I removed it. It’s fine, because I’m losing business anyway,” Mokhalad said.
Growing police presence
Around that time he also said he noticed an increase in police presence outside his business around closing time.
“Police are harassing me and the rest of the customers and the employees because they come in and show off,” Mokhalad said.
According to him, police usually showed up around closing time during Ramadan. Sometimes they’d even park outside the business with lights on and allegedly tell customers showing up after 10 p.m. that the business was closed.
Mokhalad said he’s lost two employees who specifically cited concerns over the police’s presence at the business.
He also started locking his door and turning off his “open” sign by 10 p.m. but he does still serve customers who come in before 10 p.m. even if they stay later.
“The customers who were inside, I have to sell them,” Mokhalad said. “And I can’t tell them to leave because they’re already inside the store before we close.”
But that has resulted in some additional citations.
One of the business’ citations obtained by Sahan Journal said Mokhalad has been notified that his business must “close, and customers vacate the premises by 10 p.m.”
Dispute leads to drop in business
Since Mokhalad’s fourth citation he hasn’t received another one. His temporary license application to extend hours during Ramadan was never approved.
He’s also said business has dropped even more after Ramadan which he attributes to a “bad reputation” in the community and online due to his issues with the city
One Google review for the business said “the place has become a hotspot for late night crime, which they refuse to do anything about.”
The business’s last citation, according to Mokhalad, was because of a table and chairs he set up outside. He was given a citation and asked to remove it and told if he wanted to he could apply for a permit to have outdoor seating.
“I didn’t apply yet because I know what the result is going to be,” Mokhalad said.
