Build Me Up: Feeding your passion with Medbox Grill

When Semih Ayhan and Tuncay Ozdenak moved to the U.S. from Turkey, they brought their passion for Mediterranean cuisine. When they met in 2014, they decided to bring their family recipes together and opened their first food truck. Med Box Grill quickly became a staple across Minnesota, and lines would be long and winding no matter where they parked the food truck.

To discuss how Med Box Grill came to be amidst the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, we are talking to Founders Semih Ayhan and Tuncay Ozdenak; and KA Realty’s Vice President of Properties Cindy MacDonald.

Finding Success during an uncertain time

As demand grew, they decided they were ready to open their first Med Box Grill restaurant, moving to Market Street Station in Chanhassen. But the COVID-19 pandemic complicated things, with widespread lockdowns beginning just weeks after signing their lease and starting construction.

“We just say, ‘okay what can we do to fix it? What can we do to make it better?’” is their philosophy when problems, or pandemics, arise says Tuncay. They made COVID work for them. Using the food truck during the summer months meanwhile finishing out construction for their restaurant in Chanhassen.

Despite facing many unprecedented challenges, Med Box Grill opened its doors in November of 2020 and has found great success. During their first few months of opening it was just a revolving door of take-out orders, but as restrictions lifted the tables started to fill with smiling customers.

Semih and Tuncay take great pride in sharing part of who they are, where they came from and giving their community a small taste of home. They say it’s like sharing part of their soul. It’s an extension of themselves. This is what makes their restaurant successful. Nothing goes on the menu without months of preparing and getting it just right for their customers. And you can see, and taste, why their customers follow them around the state. It was even recently voted Best Mediterranean Restaurant in Minnesota by the Star Tribune.

While it’s MedBox’s cuisine that wins them awards, it’s their entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude that makes dining there so special. Their passion and love for both food and people shines through and you can hear it in the way they talk about their culture.

While we can’t say for certain what the future holds for MedBox Grill, but what we do know is that Semih and Tuncay will continue to introduce us to their family’s secret recipes to give us a small taste of Turkey.