Fully cooked: The Halal Guys opens in Manila

It says a lot about the differences in our appetites that a standard gyro and chicken platter from The Halal Guys can either be one’s dinner and breakfast, or a shared dinner the day after. "Standard," of course, would be the platter size they serve over in New York City, on the corner of 53rd and 6th.

The huge US city is where this small but growing chain of halal food carts has been attracting hungry customers at almost all hours of the night since 1990, when Egyptian immigrants Muhammed Abouelenein, Ahmed Elsaka, and Abdelbaset Elsayed realized that New York’s Muslim cab drivers could not get food that was prepared according to halal rules.

Their hotdog stand became a stall known for selling “chicken and rice,” another name by which the chain is known.

“After years of hard work, they eventually introduced the concept of halal food to the city and to American society,” Hesham Hegazi, director for brand development, told GMA News Online.

He points out that, years later, 95% of customers at their four NYC food stalls are non-Muslim. “We attribute our success to hard work, and we constantly focus on the quality of the food,” he said. “And on customer service, being there when the customer really needs us.”

Hegazi added that the food stalls serve their clients whatever the climate, even when there is heavy snow.

The founders, now the proud owners of an increasingly multinational chain, flew over to Manila to inaugurate their first international franchise’s pioneer store—owned by Fully Booked owner Jaime Daez—in SM Megamall Fashion Mall’s Food Hall.

 

 
The Halal Guys marks Daez's second foray into the food business after the Press Café chain that operates alongside the bookstores in three locations.

“I have been in the food business for a while now, but having said that, this is a totally different monster,” he said. He decided to diversify his businesses partly because his bookstore business, he admitted, is facing challenges from new ways of delivering books, among other things. “Knowing that Halal Guys is such a big success in New York, I knew it [would be] a sure win here in Manila,” he said.

Daez and his wife lined up at a stand in 2010 in New York. “I figured that if people were lining up on the street for this, it must be worth it,” he said. “With the sheer value for money, I couldn’t think of any other place there that could offer great food at that price.”

In June of 2014, Daez visited the International Franchise Fair at the Javits Center in New York and was surprised to find that the Halal Guys were now accepting franchisees. This was a move made in partnership with Fransmart, a franchise development firm whose clients included Qdoba (a Mexican restaurant chain whose food the author has also tried before) and the Five Guys burger chain. He was equally surprised to learn, contrary to his worries, that he would be the first international franchisee.

The owners of the Halal Guys insist on quality and freshness in the food being served, and it does require a lot of work. “We make sure that we have the best quality food, and we have to use the right source for it,” Hegazi said, “If we say it’s halal, we make sure that it goes through halal processes.”

The restaurant was the first of its kind to be certified by the Halal Development Institute of the Philippines. The certification process was a long and laborious process taking six months, thus causing delays in the restaurant’s opening. The delays were also caused by red tape they had to deal with regarding the importation of the gyro beef and the sauces.


 
Once these initial hurdles were overcome, a team from New York put the staff through an intensive training process culminating in a press preview and a soft opening the day after (where they had to close beyond the six hours planned due to the demand). “We don’t want a baptism by fire at the grand opening,” Daez said. But the preparations, he hoped, were worth it. “This is the most excited I’ve been since I opened the Fully Booked Fort store [in 2007],” he said.

The last word, though, must come from founder Elsayed. “When you work hard for something, you’ll eventually realize that even your wildest dreams would come true,” he said. — BM, GMA News