And the Iranian owners put up all kinds of flags, too.
Same deal with HOP franchise in same area. A few weeks before 9/11, the Egyptian manager/owner pulled his kids out of school and left the country. Didn't even make his last payroll.
Also are often hotel managers.
Muslims have different habits of entrepreneurship in the US--they don't like borrowing money through banks, but prefer to borrow from family members to start businesses. They need a lot of legal help for that, and your local corporate attorneys know who and where they are.
I am leery of any of those reports, honestly. I heard from people first and secondhand who “saw” the owner of our subway “dancing in the parking lot” with his workers and speaking Arabic. Then I read internet reports about the same thing supposedly happening in a lot of different towns, always at a Subway. It turns out that the guy who owned the restaurant was actually Indian and nothing of the sort happened.