By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
November 4, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Opening a restaurant can be difficult.

Rambo and Olivia Sajnani, owners of Rambo’s Chicken and Burgers, know exactly how difficult it can be. The restaurant, located at 2619 Independence Avenue, has had an interesting first month; its been broken into and sits across the street of the deadly fire that claimed the lives of two firefighters, which caused the portion of Independence Avenue they sit on to be blocked off for two weeks as investigators searched through the burned down building.

This didn’t deter the husband and wife owners, though. They knew what was more important.

“Things happen,” Rambo said. “We need to take care of them [the firefighters] first. The business will come later.”

With Independence Avenue back open to commuter traffic, Rambo and Olivia are ready to serve the Northeast. For the past 25 years, Rambo was a manager in the restaurant industry. With their two daughters off to college, he wanted to try his hand at being his own boss and owning a restaurant.

“We looked at a few locations and finally found this [building] which has good traffic,” Rambo said, adding he saw what was being offered in the Northeast and thought a fried chicken restaurant would help. “We had to do a lot of cleaning and repairs before opening. A good restaurant needs to be clean for its customers.”

The name of the restaurant says it all. Rambo wanted to keep the menu small and simple because if there’s too many option on the menu, customers could get overwhelmed. By keeping the menu small, he said people are able to eat good quality cooking, from homemade recipes.

Rambo’s Chicken and Burgers isn’t the only new eatery in the area of Independence Avenue and Prospect. Within the past year, Al Rahman Mediterranean Market and the Safari Cafe have also opened up, providing Northeast residents with more variety. Rambo said the options now being offered will benefit the community. Their neighbors, too, have been helpful in sending over customers over for lunch or dinner.

“Our neighbors at the barber shop and music store [Rueben’s Musical Instrument Store and Ted’s Barber Stylist] have been helping us a lot,” Olivia said. “Ted and Rueben get customers and then tell them to go to Rambo’s for food.”

After the tragic fire and when the Avenue was temporarily closed, customers figured out other ways to get into Rambo’s. With many shuttered buildings along the Avenue and throughout the Northeast, customers were happy to see new faces serving the Northeast.

“Customers have been so helpful,” Oliva said. “Everybody’s happy and they like the food. They post it on Facebook and then another customer comes in, saying they saw it on Facebook. So that’s how we’re getting customers. I’m really happy these people are sharing these nice comments. That is helping a lot. Once people come in and try, they’ll like our food.”

Rambo’s Chicken and Burgers has a Facebook page, which they plan to add more information to in the future. Rambo and Olivia said they’re still trying to figure out their hours of operation. Currently, they’re open from 10:30 a.m. – 9 p.m., but noticed customers don’t usually come in until around noon. The restaurant is open from Monday – Saturday. Soon, they plan to print up fliers and visit the neighborhood to let people know they’re open.

“It’s only us, so I told him I need a day off,” Olivia said with a laugh. “It’s going to take some time for people to know that we’re here and that we’re open.”