A couple of days ago a Twin Donut shop burned down in the Bronx. This sort of thing happens frequently enough, of course — grease fires, arson, incidents of unknown causation. But not in this case. It turns out the fire was set by the owner of the Kennedy Fried Chicken outlet immediately adjacent. The chicken joint shares a wall and a roof with the donut shop, but it was barely scathed. The owner was quickly suspected and apprehended. Why’d he do it? Because the donut store had started selling chicken, undercutting his business.
Yeah, yeah, you want a desi angle. Well, hold your horses. Let’s get some local color first:
I think he was a fool, said a Hunts Point resident who identified himself as Rhino. To burn down a store, this place has been here for many years, is stupid. …
“He punched a hole in the wall between his store and the donut shop, explained Assistant Chief Fire Marshall Robert Byrnes. He introduced some gasoline. He used a pressurized container that you use with insecticide. He ignited the fire and left.”
People in this neighborhood who bought chicken from Kennedy Fried Chicken say it is hard for them to believe the owner would do something crazy like this. They say he was a good guy who cared about the community.
“Why would he do something like that, added another local resident, Kesha Nelson. That doesn’t make sense, he was trifling like that. I thought he was a nice guy. I buy chicken from here all the time.
“Kennedy Chicken had the best chicken, concurred local resident Frank Jones. I don’t know about Twin Donuts because I never had their chicken.”
And now your desi angle. Judging from the names at least, both chickenwalla and donutwalla appear to be desi:
Kabeer Ahmad also was charged with reckless endangerment and remained in custody because he was unable to post $250,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Bronx food fight began when a Twin Donut shop started competing with Ahmad’s Kennedy Fried Chicken by adding legs, wings, breasts and thighs to its menu and selling plates of food for 50 cents cheaper. …
Ahmad had accused Twin Donuts of violating a noncompete clause by selling chicken at the shop. But the owner of the doughnut shop, Mike Chhor, said he didn’t know why his neighbor set the fire and destroyed his business, which he bought three weeks ago.
“I don’t know why he burned the store,” Chhor said. “I had no problem with him.”
If convicted, Ahmad faces upward of 25 years in jail. This brother-on-brother violence must end. What a senseless waste of entrepreneurial initiative. Why couldn’t they just get together an open a Chicken & Waffles joint?
