Arman Zaryan often reflects on his life while working in his food truck and how rapidly it has changed. Four years ago, he could not have imagined that one day he would move to the United States and open a business.
Zaryan, 47, is an Armenian-born man who moved to Ukraine 25 years ago. Now, he owns a food truck called Lavash Jax in Jacksonville, Florida.
He and his family are among the 158,000 Ukrainian refugees who have come to the United States through the Uniting for Ukraine program since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
The U4U program was created by the U.S. government specifically for Ukrainians seeking asylum. It allows participants to work, open businesses and live in the United States during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“We thought for a long time whether we should try and apply for this program or not, but we decided to do it,” says Arman.
His food truck serves Ukrainian and Armenian dishes cooked by him, his wife and their middle daughter. Here, customers can try shashlik, grilled meat usually made from pork or chicken, and shawarma, an Armenian wrap. They can also order Ukrainian dishes like holubtsi, cabbage rolls with rice and meat; nalysnyky, thin pancakes with different fillings; and varenyky, dumplings with fillings, along with much more.
He said that neither he nor his family spoke English when they arrived in this country.
“I did not have any networks or friends. I just had my family,” he said.
Zaryan’s eldest daughter, Kateryna Mitaeva, who lives in Denmark but visits the family several times a year, helped them with the paperwork since she’s the only one who spoke English.
“I helped my parents fill out the documents for the move,” she said. “I was really worried about them and how they’d adjust to life in a new country, but at the same time I knew their work would connect with our fellow Ukrainians who immigrated.”
The story of Zaryan’s food truck in Jacksonville starts in Ukraine with his first café and his passion for Armenian food. Zaryan said he loves preparing meals and in his opinion the hospitality is the part of Armanian culture.
He moved to Ukraine, he has been building his life from the ground up, developing businesses and exploring different fields such as running a café and a flower plantation until Russia invaded the country.
He spent 25 years in Ukraine.
“I dropped out of university in Yerevan, Armenia, and moved to Poltava, Ukraine, because my parents opened our first business,” Zaryan said. “We had a large plantation where we grew flowers for many years and then sold them to shops.”
In 2002, he met his wife, Liubov Zaryan, who is Ukrainian. Together they have three daughters.
“We started working together,” he said. “As we both love Armenian food, we prepared Armenian-style dishes and sold them at the market. We also built a small workshop for making lavash, hired a few workers and later opened our first café.”
But in February 2022, his life changed sharply when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We were forced to leave the country. We didn’t have a choice,” he said. “We left everything at home our business and the apartment we had recently purchased in 2021.”
After moving to the United States, Zaryan and his wife, Liubov, continued their business. Liubov prepared Ukrainian food, while Arman made Armenian dishes. Their middle daughter made desserts. They cooked at home and sold their food through Instagram.
“We were just doing what we love,” Liubov said. “We did not expect that so many people would find us on Instagram, and after they tried our food, they shared and recommended us.”
“I used to know Arman from Ukraine, where I was his customer, and I was glad to see him here,” said David Navoyan, who had been a customer of Zaryan’s business in Poltava, Ukraine, and later moved to Jacksonville. “When you are far away from home, you get homesick sometimes, even if it has been a while, but businesses like Arman’s give a taste of homeland.”
Arman has plans to expand his business.
“I dream of growing my business and seeing the war in Ukraine end,” he said.
