When the pizzeria next door to his kosher Israeli grocery store went out of business, Yahav Amrani saw an opportunity.

On Sunday, Aug. 26, Amrani will open Carmel Kosher Pizza, Morris County's first kosher pizzeria, at 350 Route 46 in Rockaway.

The menu will include pizza, falafel, Yemenite specialties like melawah and jachnun, vegetarian dishes, salads, pasta, and Italian specials.

The restaurant will be under the supervision of the Vaad Harabonim of MetroWest New Jersey, in cooperation with the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey.

Amrani's grocery customers said they were looking for a kosher eatery to open nearby.

"It's been an issue," said Amrani, a resident of White Meadow Lake and member of Chabad Center of Northwest NJ, located in Rockaway.

Six months after opening Carmel Israeli Market one year ago, Amrani added a deli counter to the store. He makes sandwiches and rotisserie chicken, and he put one table in at the front of the store.

"We've been looking to do this for a while. It means a tremendous amount," said Rabbi Asher Herson of the Chabad of Northwest NJ. "There are people in the area trying very hard to keep kosher, but we didn't have anything like this in the area, and it can be too much of a challenge."

Herson estimated that about 8,500 Jews live within a 15-minute drive of the strip mall where Amrani's stores are located. Chabad, the Brooklyn-based hasidic movement that is dedicated to outreach among the non-Orthodox, often builds its centers in areas with small but growing Jewish populations.

Amrani, 41, said he expects the pizzeria to turn a profit within the first six months to one year. He estimated his initial investment at $50,000.The grocery store, which opened a year ago with an investment of about $130,000, has recently begun to produce a small profit.

The businesses mark a dramatic change for Amrani from his previous work in the moving business. "I keep kosher at home. We used to have to travel to Brooklyn and other places to buy kosher food and stock up. There's nothing around here," he said, finishing a salad in his grocery store. "I like the challenge."

The pizzeria offers seating for 40 and will be open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. until two hours before Shabbat on Friday; and on Saturday nights after Shabbat during the winter.