Haverhill company spreads Mediterranean food across coasts
Christopher Gaudette at Cedar's Haverhill plant.Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff/Globe StaffAbe Hanna and his wife, Layla, both natives of Beirut, are pass...
Christopher Gaudette at Cedar's Haverhill plant.Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff/Globe StaffAbe Hanna and his wife, Layla, both natives of Beirut, are passionate about Mediterranean food. In the mid-1980s — keenly aware of its absence in local markets — Layla made hommus and taboule salad in her home kitchen and Abe drove the products to market. Cedar's Mediterranean Foods in Lawrence — named for the national tree of Lebanon — was off and running. In the 1990s, management of the company was turned over to their son, Charlie Hanna.