WALLINGFORD - From running an East Haven flower shop to leading the multimillion-dollar Ed­ible Arrangements franchise operation, Tariq Farid is living the American dream.

But as Farid, 39, real­izes entrepreneurial success, he is embark­ing on deeper, more spiritual quests: honor­ing his late mother, building a place of worship, creating a school that incorporates Islamic instruction and stepping up his company's community outreach.

Farid came to the United States from Pakistan when he was 11, three years after his fa­ther arrived by himself to pur­sue employment. Farid, the eld­est of five brothers and one sister, mowed lawns and worked at fast-food places as he went through the West Haven school system.

Coming from a fami­ly of modest means, Farid said, he was hap­py as a teenager to get his own paycheck at the end of the week. Much of what Farid has instituted in his own business, he said, he learned as a spatula-wielding 16-year-old Mc Donald's.

"The best job I probably ever had was at Mc Donald's," Farid said in an interview at his Barnes Road headquarters.

Farid said he was content to have a job, considering the struggles that some in his fami­ly had experienced. His moth­er's family lived comfortably in British-ruled India until the 1947 partition that created Pak­istan. The partition of India dis­placed his grandmother, dis­solving most of her family's wealth, he said.

"When the partition hap­pened, they were literally given two hours to pack up their bags and leave," he said.

Farid's father, Ghulam, worked as a machinist in the Connecticut, but he and his wife, Salma, wanted their chil­dren to run a business. To that end, the family bought a small East Haven flower shop in 1986 after seeing a classified ad about it.

The family worked intensely at the shop. Farid, who was still in high school at the time, would drive his mother to work at the shop in the morning and he would work at the shop after school. The business did so well that the family was able to expand and buy another flower business in Milford in 1988.

Running the flower shops laid the groundwork for bigger things to come. As the family established the stores, Farid, a computer buff, designed the computerized point-of-sale sys­tems. In 1991, Farid struck out on his own to sell computer systems to flower retailers across the Northeast.

He re­cruited his younger brother, Kamran, to do bookkeeping for the company, Northeast Sys­tems.

"How much do you need?"

It was in March of 1999 that the two brothers began Edible Arrangements, a franchise busi­ness based on fruit baskets that resemble floral arrangements. Tariq Farid now serves as chief executive officer for the com­pany. Kamran Farid serves as chief operating officer.

The brothers combined their years of experience in retailing floral arrangements with their technological expertise to start the company. The concept of colorful fruit baskets was noth­ing new, but the Farids rein­vented them with designs in­spired by the flower business. More importantly, they devel­oped a computerized system behind the product that facili­tated efficient communications between franchisees and their headquarters, Kamran Farid said. That system is what makes investors feel comfortable about starting a store, he said While the brothers came up with the Edible Arrangements concept, it took their mother, Salma K. Farid, to make it a re­ality. The brothers eyed a va­cant building on Dixwell Av­enue in Hamden for their first major store but did not have enough money for it. Tariq Farid remembers the night he sat down and mentioned it to his family.

"My mother kind of smirks and says, 'How much do you need?' Well, I said, 'We need about $50,000.' She goes, 'OK, tomorrow I'll give you $50,000.'" Her offer came as a shock. The family soon realized that she had painstakingly saved her modest earnings - between $20 and $50 a week - working at the flower shop since 1986. She had saved the money for her daughter's wedding, but was confident she would be paid back, Farid said. Farid credits his mother with the suc­cess of Edible Arrangements.

"I would not be sitting here if it wasn't for that," he said.

In their nine years running Edible Arrangements, the Farids have only officially bor­rowed money once. That's be­cause Islamic legal principles (Shariah) advocate an avoid­ance of charging or paying in­terest. It may seem stunning that a business the size of Edi­ble Arrangements could run without major lending, but Kamran Farid said the company operated under the simple rule of staying within its means. Salaries were kept modest, as were the company's corporate headquarters when it was start­ing off. Money was reinvested to grow the business.

When Tariq Farid eventually tried to pay his mother back, she demanded only $20,000, asking her children to build something in her memory with the rest. She had become sick with heart disease by that time. She died in 2005. Farid ex­plained that, in Islam, leaving something behind that benefits humanity - especially a mosque - benefits one in the afterlife.

"She always felt that she wanted to be part of building a mosque because, in Islam, it says that once you build a mosque, God builds you a home in heaven," he said.

"We're here to stay"

Tariq and Kamran Farid are now trying to fulfill their moth­er's wish many times over. They are nearing completion of a school in Hamden, called the Salma K. Farid Islamic Acade­my, and are trying to win ap­proval for a mosque in Walling­ford, to be called the Salma K. Farid Islamic Center.

The private school, which will serve up to 75 children, will incorporate Islamic and Arabic language instruction with basic core courses. The school will routinely hold community pro­grams, such as an evening event in which non-Muslims can learn more about the Islamic faith, said Ponn M. Sabra, ad­ministrator of the school.

The school is set to begin op­erations this year, but the future of the mosque is less certain. Residents of Leigus Road, where the mosque is being pro­posed, have mounted persistent objections to the proposal, stat­ing the neighborhood should be kept residential.

The mosque is meant to be a quiet place of worship for Farid's family and the sur­rounding Wallingford commu­nity, he said. It is not, he said, meant to become a regional in­stitution, as some neighbors fear.

Like most people from Pak­istan, the Farids are of the Sun­ni denomination of Islam. Farid said Sunnis and Shiites can worship side by side in the United States, where there are no rigid lines between religious groups.

Sabra said the Farids are clearly committed to their faith. "Working with the Farids has been just incredible," she said. "First and foremost, they are extremely successful business­men but they believe in their faith as wholeheartedly as I do." Farid said he can sympathize with neighbors' concerns about additional development, but added that zoning regulations provide for religious land uses for a reason. As families move into communities, he said, find­ing a place of worship becomes a primary concern.

Farid lives in Cheshire with his wife and four daughters, but he said he practically lives in Wallingford, since he is in his office about 12 hours a day. As a Muslim, Farid tries to attend a mosque to pray every Friday af­ternoon.

"We're here in this town," Farid said. "We're here to stay. We're going to grow with this community. We're going to be part of this community."