Middle Eastern restaurant chain Naya to open new location in Oceanside

Fast-growing restaurant chain Naya will be serving up its Middle Eastern fare at a second spot on Long Island.

On July 7, the fast-casual chain will open a restaurant in a portion of a former Rite Aid drugstore space at 3199 Long Beach Rd. in Oceanside, broker Doug Weinstein said.

The eatery will occupy about 2,200 square feet in Oceanside Plaza, which likely will not be Naya’s last stop on Long Island, said Weinstein, an executive vice president at Woodbury-based Ripco Real Estate LLC who represents Naya on Long Island.

"We are planning to continue to expand on Long Island. ... We have several in the pipeline," he said.

Naya has one restaurant on Long Island, in Roosevelt Field in Uniondale, which opened in 2022 and was the chain’s first mall-based location.

Headquartered in Manhattan, Naya Group LLC did not respond to Newsday’s requests for comment.

The restaurant chain offers create-your-own pita wraps, bowls and salads. Customers choose their proteins, such as chicken or beef shawarma, which is thinly sliced, roasted meat; lamb or chicken kebabs; falafel; or cauliflower.

There are unlimited toppings, "from fresh veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers to flavorful options like hummus, feta cheese, and sumac onions," according to the chain’s website.

Hady Kfoury opened Naya’s first restaurant in 2008 in midtown Manhattan.

The chain now has 31 restaurants, the vast majority of which are in New York City, while the rest are in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Naya plans to open 16 more restaurants in 2025, according to a LinkedIn post the company made May 22.

Naya is a $41 million chain that had "tremendous growth last year," when its sales and restaurant locations each grew by 36% compared to 2023, said David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic, a restaurant and retail industry research firm in Chicago.

Manhattan-based private equity firm TriSpan acquired a majority stake in Naya in 2020, "so their investment has likely been a major driver behind Naya’s ongoing expansion over the last few years," said Kevin Schimpf, senior director of industry research at Technomic.

In Oceanside Plaza, Rite Aid occupied a 12,000-square-foot space, of which cosmetics retailer Ulta took about 7,000 square feet for a store that opened in April, said Sean Kemp, a representative at Basser Kaufman, the Woodmere-based real estate company that owns the shopping center.

The Rite Aid was among 154 stores on the drugstore chain’s list for closings after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2023, when it had 2,100 stores. The Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based retailer filed for bankruptcy again in May.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.