Meet Asma Mohamed, A Local Street Vendor

Asma Mohamed has never complained about running her halal vendor business. The hours spent standing in the rain, cold, or extreme summer heat were hard, but the 20-year-old didn’t mind.

That changed in August, when Mohamed gave birth to a daughter. Try operating a food cart with a baby in your arms!

Mohamed manages three food carts in the Financial District. She operates one of the carts from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. four days a week, and supervises all three when she is not vending. Maryam, born only 43 days ago, stays with a babysitter sometimes, but it is common to see Mohamed carrying a pink bundle in her arms as she oversees her business.

“It’s too hard with the baby, but what can I do?” she said. “We need the money.”

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After 9/11, Mohamed’s father left New York to return to their native Egypt, and Mohamed and her husband Saif, 40, took charge of the family’s food cart business. It was rough. There was little street traffic by Wall St. and customers were wary of Mohamed’s ethnicity, even though she emigrated from Egypt at age 10 and graduated from high school in Queens.

“We’re Arabic,” she said. “Nobody stopped.”

Business has since improved. A stream of regular customers chat with Mohamed in Arabic and smile at her sleeping baby.

“All the people here like me,” she said with a laugh. “All the customers know me now. There’s lots of business.”

She passes the long hours joking around with customers and her three employees, who are mostly friends of friends.

Ataf Ali runs Mohamed’s cart when she supervises the other employees. The 25-year-old juggles college courses at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

“She calls me, and whenever I have a chance, I come in,” Ali said. “She’s the wife of my friend, so I work when I can.”

His cart is on the corner of Broadway and Cedar St., next to Mohamed’s larger halal cart. Mohamed also has a smaller stand on Broadway and Liberty St. The carts sell anything from pretzels to hot dogs to bottled water, but Mohamed’s favorite is halal chicken with rice, the business’s top seller.

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As we talk, a wind gust ruffles Mohamed’s headscarf, a reminder that the weather will turn cold soon. She frowns.

“All the business gets f---ed up in the winter,” she said. “When the rain comes, nobody stops. In the snow, nobody stays in the street.”

Usually Mohamed returns to Egypt in December. This year, because of the newborn, she will pass the season in her New Jersey apartment.

“It’s too hard for me with the work and the baby,” she said with a small smile. “[Hopefully] I make time for the baby.”