The water below the San Francisco bridge glimmers with light, the stunning orange paint reflecting off the ocean – as Adam Arshakian, a senior at Granite Bay High School, and his mother drive into San Francisco, delivering food to customers of Delish Food Catering. 

Despite being formed in the base of Citrus Heights, Delish Food Catering gets orders from all over Sacramento – including San Francisco. However, Raghad Hermiz, who goes by Rita, also gets orders from Granite Bay, a more local area. She started with catering for sports banquets, including football and basketball, which contributed to the business flourishing in Granite Bay. Now, ten years later, Delish Food Catering is still going strong. 

“She can make anything, but she mainly does Middle Eastern food,” Adam Arshakian, a senior at Granite Bay High School, and Hermiz’s son, said. 

Her business is based on trust, and flavor. Hermiz recounts a time when she had an American customer, who was interested in catering for an event – with the classic American foods, like meatballs and cold meat sandwiches. 

“I always like to suggest or offer [something] kind of different, and introduce the Mediterranean kitchen to them,” Hermiz said. 

She ended up making chicken skewers and kabobs, hummus and Greek salad, and Mediterranean rice for the event. The customer was “very happy” about her menu, even preferring it over their original cuisine. 

“I got a very beautiful message after, thanking me for the service and the food I gave them,” Hermiz said.

Hermiz has always had a passion for cooking, and sharing her skills with others. She was inspired by her mom, who was “a really good cook. All moms are good cooks.”

Despite her love for cooking, Hermiz faced challenges when arriving in the United States.

“When we came as immigrants to the states it was hard to find customers and introduce them to my kitchen, because I came from a Mediterranean kitchen,” said Hermiz. “To collect customers from different cultures … was a challenge for me, but there was always love for my dishes from everybody that I offered [them to].”

Hermiz has always been in the business of cooking. She used to be a property manager, and would cater on the weekends. Shifting her schedule and personal life was “easy for me, because I’ve always been in the business, it was easy for me to adjust.” Additionally, some of the women in Granite Bay loved her food, and started calling her for all of their events. 

“I used them for two events, one for the basketball end of the season banquet. We held it at Bayside, and they were amazing.” Laura Stannard, a customer of Delish Food Catering and a Spanish teacher here at GBHS, who also goes by Señora Ese, said. 

“The food was delicious. We had Euro meat, carved lamb, rice, and salad. Rita and her husband and her daughter were both there, all serving, and they were super professional and did drinks and food, and everyone was super happy and well fed,” Stannard said.

Her favorite item on the menu is kebabs and hummus, and she definitely would recommend Delish Food Catering to her friend “100 times over.” 

It’s safe to say that Delish Food Catering is a hit to its customers, at least with Stannard. Adam Arshakian, Rita’s son, agrees. 

“I just like seeing her having something to do at home, because she quit her old job to pursue this business, and it’s really kicking off to a good start,” he said. Hermiz’s family has always been in support of her job. 

“My mom’s catering business allowed her to become a better business woman, it helped her be able to deal with customers better and be able to finalize sales at a more productive rate,” Arshakian said. He also added that his mom is more excited to make food for people she doesn’t even know, which he thinks is “the best part.”

The best part about running a business, in Hermiz’s opinion, is contacting people and seeing their reactions to her food. She’s always been a business woman, and Delish Food Catering has made her stronger. 

“It always makes me happy to see how much they love my food and how they appreciate it. So always, when I cook, I don’t think about how much I’m going to be tired, [or] how much time I’m gonna put in, because at the end, I just look for the result and the outcoming from my customers.”

Her advice for would-be entrepreneurs? 

“Don’t hesitate from pursuing [your] business,” Hermiz said.“Don’t be scared to start your business, and have trust in yourself, believe in yourself.”