A crowd of 40 people gathered at a North Frontage Road location Thursday morning to break ground for construction of Meridian’s new IHOP (International House of Pancakes).

    Hosted by the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, several of the community’s political and business representatives were among those witnessed the milestone, which was marked with several presentations by speakers.

    Before the ceremony began, Farida Lala, wife of Meridian businessman Abdul Lala, shared a story of why IHOP is coming to Meridian.

    “Two years ago, we went to Atlanta,” Lala said. “My daughter lives in Atlanta, and she took us to breakfast at IHOP. My husband ordered what he liked, which was pancakes with a lot of blueberry syrup. While he was eating, he said, ‘I’m going to open an IHOP in Meridian.’ That’s the story behind this.”

    Abdul Lala said there have been many inquiries from the community about IHOP.

    “We didn’t know why they didn’t have an IHOP here,” he said. “So we called them (IHOP) and asked them about the franchise. They are very picky about who they do business with, so it took us a long time to get the franchise. But we finally got it.”

    Construction has already begun on the restaurant – which will be located on North Frontage Road, between Holiday Inn and UHaul Rentals. It is scheduled to open in November.

     Mr. Lala said they had planned for an October opening, but decided to allocate extra time in case of bad weather.

    “Meridian has been extremely good to us and we want to improve the quality of life here,” he said. “A project like this would help us do that.”

    Archie McDonnell, president and CEO of Citizen’s National Bank, said, “We’re excited to have a relationship with Mr. Lala; he’s really done a lot for Meridian. We actually have a hotel project that is going to go up next to the IHOP. The IHOP is going up first.”

    Afterwards, a Home2Suites, an extended-stay facility, will be constructed, he said.

    “It’s one of the hardest franchises to get and they were able to get it,” McDonnell said. “It’s good for Meridian.”

    Dr. Azhar Pasha, an investor in the venture and part of Meridian Hospitality, LLC, also expressed his enthusiasm about the project.

     “I am very excited,” Pasha said.” It has been a long time coming and it was a project that was envisioned by my family. We all like eating at IHOP when we go other places. My wife and my children thought it would be neat to have an IHOP in Meridian.

    “It’s going to be a good family-friendly place, for our family and other families to come eat and enjoy,” Pasha added.

    The city’s chief administration officer Mike McGrevey commented that he did not know who was more excited about the restaurant’s opening – the citizens of Meridian or Mr. Lala.

    “We’ve needed an IHOP for a long time here and if it wasn’t for your leadership we wouldn’t be standing here today,” McGrevey said to Mr. Lala.

    “Thank you for investing in our community, and investing in our city and believing is us,” he said.