September 9, 2026 • 13 mins
Khalid Mashriqi - CEO of Shahs Halal Food
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone. This is Steve D'Alessandro. Welcome to this week's
edition of See As You Should Know. I am thrilled
to be joined by Khalid Mastriki, the CEO of Shah's
Halal Food. Khalid, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
We're excited to learn more about you and, of course,
more about Shah's Halal Food. So why don't we jump
right into it?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I know you really started as the single family run
food cart in Queens. What are some of those earliest
memories of working in the business and how did those
experiences really shape to how you lead today?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Obviously, it's a family brand, family business. And, you know,
in the earlier days, so to say, I was very
heavily involved. It's my father, Abraham Ashriky, my two brother-in-laws,
Shah and Rahim. So for me, actually, the knowledge and
(00:50):
the experience from earlier on stayed with me and helped
me shape, you know, growing or scaling the brand in
a sense that, you know, I know everything about the brand, right?
So whether it was, you know, washing the equipment at
the end of the night in the backyard in the
cold weather where our hands were like literally freezing or
marinating the chicken or preparing or cooking the rice, very
(01:15):
involved from the beginning. And so now when you have
a franchisee that calls you and asks you certain questions,
there's a good understanding.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Because you are in the business, right? Yeah. So you
understand exactly how to guide them or how to... I
love that.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
That's so unique to be able to know every element
of the entire business. I know that you've been in
the family business for over two decades and became CEO
in 2016. What was the biggest mind shift that you
had to make when you took it from a family-owned
business to transitioning into this rapid global brand?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I think the biggest mind shift was trying to weigh.
Since it's a family business, trying to weigh family decisions
or how the family perceives certain decisions that I have
to make versus what the decisions are for the brand.
And a lot of times you're not going to have
(02:09):
all the minds meet or agree to certain things. And
coming from a cultural, traditional background, it's tough because my father,
who's a leader of our family, and his father, who's
a leader of their family, of our family, you know,
we have a level of respect, you know, and him
(02:30):
being a business partner also and being our senior, it's
tough sometimes because it's like, you know, there's certain things
that we want to agree on, but I have to
make certain decisions for.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
The brand, right?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah. It's an interesting dynamic.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, it's a very interesting dynamic.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So we started off talking about obviously like marinating the
chicken when you first started off and preparing food in
a home kitchen. Yeah. to now operating hundreds of locations worldwide.
What was the moment that stood out as the biggest
turning point for the company?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I guess the biggest turning point was we went from
one mobile food cart in a small neighborhood in Queens,
New York, Richmond Hill specifically, to having our first brick-and-mortar location.
And even at that point, I don't think we had
the vision of scaling. It was just obviously creating this
concept that wasn't available to everybody, this New York City culture, food,
(03:22):
and putting it into a restaurant concept. And then for us, obviously,
because we're Muslim, and there's about 2 billion Muslims in
the world, having halal available in all public spaces. So
the turning point, I feel like, was at that point
where we went into a QSR space.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
What a great feeling. It is. We talked about this briefly,
but obviously family and culture are very important to the business,
really at the heart of the business. How, as you
guys have expanded, have you still been able to maintain
those values?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think it's pretty simple.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Having those values instilled in you, you know, growing up
and having those ethics or morals, it kind of relates to,
you know, even building relationships with, you know, franchisees or,
you know, partners or employees. We basically keep the same values.
You know, we have that family connection, so to say.
Shah is a big, happy family.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yep. I know that obviously you've evolved from just serving
platters to so much more now, right? And part of
that has been the innovation that you've had as CEO.
How have you been able to lead this innovation and
expansion without jeopardizing the quality of the food that every
consumer is getting?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So our company is vertically integrated. Again, we started from
one mobile food cart. We went into a commissary that
was servicing the food carts. And then we build out
to actually currently we have two USDA facilities, which does
the processing of the products. We have our own freight company.
So we wholesale distribute freight. We control all the layers
(04:55):
of the business. And, you know, it's important to keep quality.
Quality control is everything.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Especially in the food industry. The consistency and the quality
over the years basically helped us shape our business to
where it is today. And when people say Shah's Halal food,
I think the first thing that comes to mind is,
The platters and gyros.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
We kind of stand for the platters and gyros. That's
how we started, right? But with time and, you know,
different shifts in the economy, you have to make adjustments.
So innovation is very important. You see a lot of
the big brands, they're introducing, you know, breakfast or they're introducing,
it might be like a burger.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Restaurant and they're introducing tacos. Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Just to innovate and kind of appeal to every customer base, right?
To make sure that, you know, they're adjusting or they're
making the adjustments necessary. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I know sometimes when companies are in growth mode, they
could be a little skittish of partnerships and expansions. And
what I love about you is that you're doing the opposite, right?
You're investing in partnerships for major sports venues and cultural collaborations.
How have those opportunities fit into the broader strategy?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think for the most part it's just being exposed.
Being exposed like Madison Square Garden, right? It's the heart
of The city.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Of course. What a year. Yeah, what a year. Amazing year.
And then everybody knows Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
So you have about, what, 4 million people that go
to the garden on an annual basis. So just situating ourselves,
you know, with these amazing partnerships that we have in
place gives us exposure that we want, you know, to
ultimately just reach the goal of spreading halal.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yep. I know you've often said that your goal is
to make Shah's the McDonald's of halal. What does that
vision look like for the next five, ten years? And
what milestones do you want to have along the way?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I've been quoted so many times on that. It's funny
because I think of that one specific interview and I said,
we want to be the McDonald's of the world. It's
going to live with you for the rest of the year.
So what I meant, and I want to clarify, I
don't want to take away from any other brand. McDonald's
is amazing. It's a huge brand, obviously, very global. So
what I meant was we want to expand the way
McDonald's expanded.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
We want to be recognized globally.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
The way McDonald's is recognized. Anybody you ask, McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Any language. They know what it is. They know what
it is. So we want.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
The Shaws to be the expansion of what McDonald's did.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Sure. Are there any important milestones you're looking for in
the next few years?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean, every week for us is a different milestone, right?
We just launched a location in the Netherlands.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
There's places that I personally haven't even heard of or visited.
And for us to, you know, have, you know, the
demand or even the inquiry from those areas is just.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Amazing for us.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
But I would say, you know, if we reach 1,000
locations in the next five years, that's a milestone.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I think one of the most interesting aspects of Shah's
is that many of your customers are non-Muslim. What does
that say about really the evolution of halal food? And
where do you see the category continuing to head?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
I think currently where the halal food industry is about $ 3.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
5 trillion.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
It's projected in the next five years to be close
to $ 5 trillion. So from where it was to where
it is now and moving forward, it's been a big shift, right?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And we're probably.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
One of the concepts or brands that is going to
be most recognized in mainstream or even global brands in
that concept, in that genre, because there's not that many.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That exists. Yeah, you guys dominate. We're trying. We're trying, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
With hundreds of locations worldwide and international expanse, and we
obviously just talked about the Netherlands, how do you decide
what markets make sense for Shahs?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
So our concept basically caters to a lot of different
backgrounds or ethnicities.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
We're in different classes, right? And we appeal to different classes.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
So you could be on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and
you could be on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx. We
kind of appeal to a lot of different demographics, so
to say. There's no specific class. And again, you can't
go wrong with chicken over rice.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Very true.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
And fresh salad topped with white sauce and a drink
for under $ 15.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Sounds perfect. Good quality food, affordable price.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So throughout your impressive journey, Were there any surprising moments
that still stand out to you to this day?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Many, many. But I think the one for me specifically
that stood out the most was, you know, when we started,
we had, you know, about 15, 16 corporate locations, which
were the initial ones on Long Island. And then at
some point we started franchising. We started franchising and we
were getting, without any marketing or advertising, just word of mouth.
(09:54):
People would try the food at Shaw's. They were interested
in the brand, so they would reach out. At some point,
we actually received an inquiry for Evansville, Indiana.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Wow. I've never heard of it.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
So for me, it was so surprising, and I just
figured to myself, we're onto something, right?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
If we're getting reach from these kind of areas, and
then I looked into it, obviously.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's not like a city center. It's pretty much like
a suburb of Indiana. Yep. And that to me was
just amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. Our reach. Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
What you're doing is obviously working. I was going to say,
if they're hearing about it there, obviously the foundation you
built was going well.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
At that point, I kind of knew like our mission,
our goal is definitely being received.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Obviously, being there for the amount of time that you have,
I'm sure you have seen your fair share of challenges
along the way. Are there any challenges or hurdles that
you could look back on that really stand out to
you and what you were able to learn from them?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I think right now the whole economy is dealing with challenges, right?
You have inflation, probably the highest it ever was. And
for me, personally, it's keeping everybody happy and ensuring that
your franchisees are happy and making sure that they're being
taken care of. So what we try to do is
(11:16):
try to maintain in situations like what we're dealing with now,
maintain and try to make them understand the whole mindset
of maintaining right now. Maintaining and hopefully this hurdle is passed.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And continue to grow. For anyone that's tuning in that's
an entrepreneur and maybe it's even someone that maybe is
working in a family business. What advice would you give
them for creating a brand that you wish you knew
when you first were starting out?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I think the most important thing, the most important advice
would be creating a good team around you.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
You know, having a good, solid team.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
So important.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
It's very important, you know, because you're going into the
office daily and you want to make sure the people
you're working with and the team that you're working with,
you know, they're obviously productive, one, happy, two, and, you know,
getting things done pretty much.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I know we covered a lot. But what's next? What's
next for Shah's Halal Food?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
There's no dull moments.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
I swear, between having the family business and then the
expansion that's happening, there's.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
No dull moments.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
But for us, we just registered in Japan. We registered
our trademark in Japan.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Crazy.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Congrats.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
The UAE is a big market. So we're looking at
a lot of international expansions. That's great.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
If someone was tuning in, what would be the one
key takeaway about your mission that you would want them
to know?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Just be open to trying new things. You know, I mean,
we created this, you know, QSR, New York City culture,
halal for Muslim people concept, right? Which caters to non-Muslims.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And, you know, just be open to trying new things.
You come in, you try a platter, and you love it. Tomorrow,
you know, you're going to have a different concept that
you come across. Just be open to trying new things.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Lastly, if someone wanted to try it, what should the
call to action be? How can they find a location?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Go on our website, put in your zip code, see
what's the closest location to you.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Awesome. Can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Well, Khalid, thank you so much for coming in today.
Love learning about your background, love learning more about the business,
and really excited to continue to watch you guys grow.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Thanks so much. We appreciate you coming in.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
And we appreciate everybody tuning in. Tune in next week
for next week's edition of CEOs You Should Know.
Hi, everyone. This is Steve D'Alessandro. Welcome to this week's
edition of See As You Should Know. I am thrilled
to be joined by Khalid Mastriki, the CEO of Shah's
Halal Food. Khalid, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
We're excited to learn more about you and, of course,
more about Shah's Halal Food. So why don't we jump
right into it?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I know you really started as the single family run
food cart in Queens. What are some of those earliest
memories of working in the business and how did those
experiences really shape to how you lead today?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Obviously, it's a family brand, family business. And, you know,
in the earlier days, so to say, I was very
heavily involved. It's my father, Abraham Ashriky, my two brother-in-laws,
Shah and Rahim. So for me, actually, the knowledge and
(00:50):
the experience from earlier on stayed with me and helped
me shape, you know, growing or scaling the brand in
a sense that, you know, I know everything about the brand, right?
So whether it was, you know, washing the equipment at
the end of the night in the backyard in the
cold weather where our hands were like literally freezing or
marinating the chicken or preparing or cooking the rice, very
(01:15):
involved from the beginning. And so now when you have
a franchisee that calls you and asks you certain questions,
there's a good understanding.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Because you are in the business, right? Yeah. So you
understand exactly how to guide them or how to... I
love that.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
That's so unique to be able to know every element
of the entire business. I know that you've been in
the family business for over two decades and became CEO
in 2016. What was the biggest mind shift that you
had to make when you took it from a family-owned
business to transitioning into this rapid global brand?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I think the biggest mind shift was trying to weigh.
Since it's a family business, trying to weigh family decisions
or how the family perceives certain decisions that I have
to make versus what the decisions are for the brand.
And a lot of times you're not going to have
(02:09):
all the minds meet or agree to certain things. And
coming from a cultural, traditional background, it's tough because my father,
who's a leader of our family, and his father, who's
a leader of their family, of our family, you know,
we have a level of respect, you know, and him
(02:30):
being a business partner also and being our senior, it's
tough sometimes because it's like, you know, there's certain things
that we want to agree on, but I have to
make certain decisions for.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
The brand, right?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah. It's an interesting dynamic.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, it's a very interesting dynamic.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So we started off talking about obviously like marinating the
chicken when you first started off and preparing food in
a home kitchen. Yeah. to now operating hundreds of locations worldwide.
What was the moment that stood out as the biggest
turning point for the company?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I guess the biggest turning point was we went from
one mobile food cart in a small neighborhood in Queens,
New York, Richmond Hill specifically, to having our first brick-and-mortar location.
And even at that point, I don't think we had
the vision of scaling. It was just obviously creating this
concept that wasn't available to everybody, this New York City culture, food,
(03:22):
and putting it into a restaurant concept. And then for us, obviously,
because we're Muslim, and there's about 2 billion Muslims in
the world, having halal available in all public spaces. So
the turning point, I feel like, was at that point
where we went into a QSR space.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
What a great feeling. It is. We talked about this briefly,
but obviously family and culture are very important to the business,
really at the heart of the business. How, as you
guys have expanded, have you still been able to maintain
those values?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think it's pretty simple.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Having those values instilled in you, you know, growing up
and having those ethics or morals, it kind of relates to,
you know, even building relationships with, you know, franchisees or,
you know, partners or employees. We basically keep the same values.
You know, we have that family connection, so to say.
Shah is a big, happy family.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yep. I know that obviously you've evolved from just serving
platters to so much more now, right? And part of
that has been the innovation that you've had as CEO.
How have you been able to lead this innovation and
expansion without jeopardizing the quality of the food that every
consumer is getting?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So our company is vertically integrated. Again, we started from
one mobile food cart. We went into a commissary that
was servicing the food carts. And then we build out
to actually currently we have two USDA facilities, which does
the processing of the products. We have our own freight company.
So we wholesale distribute freight. We control all the layers
(04:55):
of the business. And, you know, it's important to keep quality.
Quality control is everything.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Especially in the food industry. The consistency and the quality
over the years basically helped us shape our business to
where it is today. And when people say Shah's Halal food,
I think the first thing that comes to mind is,
The platters and gyros.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
We kind of stand for the platters and gyros. That's
how we started, right? But with time and, you know,
different shifts in the economy, you have to make adjustments.
So innovation is very important. You see a lot of
the big brands, they're introducing, you know, breakfast or they're introducing,
it might be like a burger.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Restaurant and they're introducing tacos. Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Just to innovate and kind of appeal to every customer base, right?
To make sure that, you know, they're adjusting or they're
making the adjustments necessary. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I know sometimes when companies are in growth mode, they
could be a little skittish of partnerships and expansions. And
what I love about you is that you're doing the opposite, right?
You're investing in partnerships for major sports venues and cultural collaborations.
How have those opportunities fit into the broader strategy?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think for the most part it's just being exposed.
Being exposed like Madison Square Garden, right? It's the heart
of The city.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Of course. What a year. Yeah, what a year. Amazing year.
And then everybody knows Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
So you have about, what, 4 million people that go
to the garden on an annual basis. So just situating ourselves,
you know, with these amazing partnerships that we have in
place gives us exposure that we want, you know, to
ultimately just reach the goal of spreading halal.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yep. I know you've often said that your goal is
to make Shah's the McDonald's of halal. What does that
vision look like for the next five, ten years? And
what milestones do you want to have along the way?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I've been quoted so many times on that. It's funny
because I think of that one specific interview and I said,
we want to be the McDonald's of the world. It's
going to live with you for the rest of the year.
So what I meant, and I want to clarify, I
don't want to take away from any other brand. McDonald's
is amazing. It's a huge brand, obviously, very global. So
what I meant was we want to expand the way
McDonald's expanded.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
We want to be recognized globally.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
The way McDonald's is recognized. Anybody you ask, McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Any language. They know what it is. They know what
it is. So we want.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
The Shaws to be the expansion of what McDonald's did.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Sure. Are there any important milestones you're looking for in
the next few years?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean, every week for us is a different milestone, right?
We just launched a location in the Netherlands.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
There's places that I personally haven't even heard of or visited.
And for us to, you know, have, you know, the
demand or even the inquiry from those areas is just.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Amazing for us.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
But I would say, you know, if we reach 1,000
locations in the next five years, that's a milestone.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I think one of the most interesting aspects of Shah's
is that many of your customers are non-Muslim. What does
that say about really the evolution of halal food? And
where do you see the category continuing to head?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
I think currently where the halal food industry is about $ 3.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
5 trillion.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
It's projected in the next five years to be close
to $ 5 trillion. So from where it was to where
it is now and moving forward, it's been a big shift, right?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And we're probably.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
One of the concepts or brands that is going to
be most recognized in mainstream or even global brands in
that concept, in that genre, because there's not that many.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That exists. Yeah, you guys dominate. We're trying. We're trying, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
With hundreds of locations worldwide and international expanse, and we
obviously just talked about the Netherlands, how do you decide
what markets make sense for Shahs?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
So our concept basically caters to a lot of different
backgrounds or ethnicities.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
We're in different classes, right? And we appeal to different classes.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
So you could be on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and
you could be on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx. We
kind of appeal to a lot of different demographics, so
to say. There's no specific class. And again, you can't
go wrong with chicken over rice.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Very true.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
And fresh salad topped with white sauce and a drink
for under $ 15.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Sounds perfect. Good quality food, affordable price.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So throughout your impressive journey, Were there any surprising moments
that still stand out to you to this day?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Many, many. But I think the one for me specifically
that stood out the most was, you know, when we started,
we had, you know, about 15, 16 corporate locations, which
were the initial ones on Long Island. And then at
some point we started franchising. We started franchising and we
were getting, without any marketing or advertising, just word of mouth.
(09:54):
People would try the food at Shaw's. They were interested
in the brand, so they would reach out. At some point,
we actually received an inquiry for Evansville, Indiana.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Wow. I've never heard of it.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
So for me, it was so surprising, and I just
figured to myself, we're onto something, right?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
If we're getting reach from these kind of areas, and
then I looked into it, obviously.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's not like a city center. It's pretty much like
a suburb of Indiana. Yep. And that to me was
just amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. Our reach. Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
What you're doing is obviously working. I was going to say,
if they're hearing about it there, obviously the foundation you
built was going well.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
At that point, I kind of knew like our mission,
our goal is definitely being received.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Obviously, being there for the amount of time that you have,
I'm sure you have seen your fair share of challenges
along the way. Are there any challenges or hurdles that
you could look back on that really stand out to
you and what you were able to learn from them?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I think right now the whole economy is dealing with challenges, right?
You have inflation, probably the highest it ever was. And
for me, personally, it's keeping everybody happy and ensuring that
your franchisees are happy and making sure that they're being
taken care of. So what we try to do is
(11:16):
try to maintain in situations like what we're dealing with now,
maintain and try to make them understand the whole mindset
of maintaining right now. Maintaining and hopefully this hurdle is passed.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And continue to grow. For anyone that's tuning in that's
an entrepreneur and maybe it's even someone that maybe is
working in a family business. What advice would you give
them for creating a brand that you wish you knew
when you first were starting out?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I think the most important thing, the most important advice
would be creating a good team around you.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
You know, having a good, solid team.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
So important.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
It's very important, you know, because you're going into the
office daily and you want to make sure the people
you're working with and the team that you're working with,
you know, they're obviously productive, one, happy, two, and, you know,
getting things done pretty much.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I know we covered a lot. But what's next? What's
next for Shah's Halal Food?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
There's no dull moments.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
I swear, between having the family business and then the
expansion that's happening, there's.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
No dull moments.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
But for us, we just registered in Japan. We registered
our trademark in Japan.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Crazy.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Congrats.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
The UAE is a big market. So we're looking at
a lot of international expansions. That's great.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
If someone was tuning in, what would be the one
key takeaway about your mission that you would want them
to know?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Just be open to trying new things. You know, I mean,
we created this, you know, QSR, New York City culture,
halal for Muslim people concept, right? Which caters to non-Muslims.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And, you know, just be open to trying new things.
You come in, you try a platter, and you love it. Tomorrow,
you know, you're going to have a different concept that
you come across. Just be open to trying new things.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Lastly, if someone wanted to try it, what should the
call to action be? How can they find a location?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Go on our website, put in your zip code, see
what's the closest location to you.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Awesome. Can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Well, Khalid, thank you so much for coming in today.
Love learning about your background, love learning more about the business,
and really excited to continue to watch you guys grow.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Thanks so much. We appreciate you coming in.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
And we appreciate everybody tuning in. Tune in next week
for next week's edition of CEOs You Should Know.
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