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Dunkin' Donuts franchisee wins NRA Faces of Diversity award

May 12, 2009

• Ben and Virginia Ali,Ben's Chili Bowl, Washington, D.C.: Originally from Trinidad, Ben Ali came to the United States when he was 18 years old. He tried several jobs before finding his calling in the restaurant industry while working at Ann's Hot Dogs. Ali met Virginia Rollins, who had been working as a bank teller, and together they opened Ben's Chili Bowl one week before they were married. Since opening in the summer of 1958, Ben's Chili Bowl has faced some tough times, including race riots in the late 1960s and drug wars in the surrounding area in the 1970s and then in 1987 when construction began on a nearby subway line that nearly crippled their business for five years. Today, two of their three sons operate the restaurant and a bar, Ben's Next Door, which opened in the fall of 2008. Ben's Chili Bowl attracts visitors from around the world and even hosted President Barack Obama just days before his inauguration.
• Amy Igloi Matsuno,Amy's on the Bay, Port Orchard, Washington: At just 3 years old, Amy Matsuno's biological parents died, leaving Matsuno in a Korean orphanage where she contracted a high fever that caused hearing loss. She was adopted and moved to the United States where testing revealed a 33 percent hearing loss in one ear and a 36 percent loss in the other. Matsuno used hearing aids and started speech therapy. Despite adversity, Matsuno excelled in school and in sports. With her father's guidance, Matsuno knew she wanted to be her own boss one day, which led her to the restaurant industry. At just 25, Matsuno opened her own restaurant. Matsuno and her husband Grant now own and operate Amy's on the Bay in Portland, Wash., a steak and seafood restaurant with Asian influences.
• Siraj Virani,Dunkin' Donuts, Chicago: In 1971, Siraj Virani lived in Bengal, now known as Bangladesh, when the Indo-Pakistani War broke out. Virani embarked on a treacherous journey through war-torn areas to safety in Karachi, Pakistan. While working as a typist and bookkeeper in Karachi, Virani won a scholarship to the United States, where he studied to be an accountant. He worked as a server at a restaurant to earn extra money. After obtaining an associate's degree from the Central YMCA College in Chicago, he studied accounting and finance at Roosevelt University. When he was laid off from a pharmaceutical company, Virani began to consider franchising opportunities. Today, Virian is a father of three and owns 13 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants and supplies baked goods to 18 other stores in the Chicago area.