East Side restaurant owner Yasmin Ibrahim had low expectations when she wrote President Obama about her plan to boost workers’ pay to $10 an hour.
And then she received a call last week from the White House — followed by a Saturday mention in the President’s weekly national address.
“We’re thrilled!” she told the Daily News hours after her coast-to-coast shout-out. “We had been informed that he read the letter, but we didn’t know for sure that he would talk about it.
“It was a huge honor. We’re extremely excited.”
Ibrahim opened Desi Shack near Grand Central Terminal in late 2011, two years after she came to New York from Egypt.
She was watching the President’s State of the Union address in January when he mentioned a Minneapolis pizzeria chain owner who planned to bump his workers’ pay to $10 an hour.
“It really caught my attention, really hit home for me,” said Ibrahim, who employs 10 workers — some earning $8 an hour.
“After living in New York for the last five years, I know the cost of living here. Employees working 40 hours a week — can you imagine how difficult it is to live on $320 a week?”
The small business owner decided to write the President about her decision to raise salaries at her Lexington Ave. eatery — never expecting to hear anything further.
The White House first called to let her known Obama had indeed read the letter and do a little fact-checking.
The President’s videotaped address appeared Saturday morning on the White House website, with Obama quoting from her note.
“Yasmin Ibrahim is an immigrant who owns her own restaurant — Desi Shack — and plans to open another this summer,” the President said before hailing her choice to raise the hourly wage.
The married mom of a 2-year-old boy was still a little stunned by the whole thing.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “And I think it’s one of the things that’s amazing about the country: A regular citizen can send a letter to the White House, and it gets read — and mentioned in an address.”
