Owner of Mina’s Grill on Franklin Street pushes past disaster

Despite the tragedies that befell his first two business ventures, John Hanna opened Mina’s Grill on Franklin Street with optimism and determination.

Mina’s Grill is an Italian-American restaurant located at 401 W. Franklin St. and is the third restaurant owned and operated by Hanna.

Hanna’s first restaurant, Twin Cafe, was located in lower Manhattan. It opened on Sept. 9, 2001, two days before the attack on the World Trade Center. Hanna was in his restaurant just one block away when the planes crashed.

“No one realized that it was a plane at first, everyone thought it was a gas explosion or some fire,” Hanna said.

Hanna said the next few hours were chaos as the people in lower Manhattan began to run.

“While we ran, we saw the first building start to collapse,” Hanna said. “When it collapsed, debris covered the area. It followed us. It was like a big white cloud covered the city with dust.”

Twin Cafe shut its doors for six months after the attack, but he said the business did well when they re-opened in March 2002.

“It was the only place open at the time after the accident because no one wanted to come back,” Hanna said.

Twin Cafe shut down in 2012 due to a conflict with the landlord.

Joseph Maqqar, Hanna’s brother-in-law, was working at Twin Cafe when it closed down.

“I think it was really hard for John when it closed down because he was the owner,” Maqqar said. “It was a very good business and it was very well liked by a lot of people.”

After Twin Cafe shut down, Hanna opened another business, Sam’s Gyro, on the boardwalk in New Jersey. It opened in the summer of 2012, a few months before Hurricane Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast.

“The hurricane destroyed everything,” Hanna said. “We had to rebuild the business after Sandy but then the boardwalk burned down a year later.”

Hanna used the next few months to refocus by working for a friend’s business. In 2014, Hanna was invited to visit Chapel Hill by one of his friends who lives in Cary. Hanna said he was enamored with the town after visiting.

“When I came here, it made me feel very peaceful. Everyone says hello and good morning even if they don’t know you,” Hanna said.

Hanna decided to move to Chapel Hill and open up a new restaurant — and that became Mina’s Grill. Maqqar came with him.

“I love Chapel Hill. I like the quiet neighborhoods and I’m most likely going to stay,” Maqqar said.

And John Paul, a Chapel Hill resident, said he enjoyed trying out the new restaurant.

“It has hearty food in big portions which should have great appeal to students,” Paul said.