Thelife
Business Insider/Jessica Tyler
The Halal Guys cart is open almost 24 hours a day.
- The Halal Guys' food carts are open almost 24 hours a day, rain or shine, and there seems to never be a shortage of customers.
- The chicken-and-rice chain has been growing throughout New York City and has ambitions to open as many as 400 more restaurants globally, CEO Ahmed Abouelenein told Business Insider.
- I spent a morning shadowing The Halal Guys' general manager Mohamed Omar at the chain's original cart on the corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue.
There's a lot that goes into The Halal Guys' famous chicken-and-rice platters.
The Halal Guys carts, which are open from 10:00 a.m until 4:00 a.m. on weekdays and 5:30 a.m. on weekends, have a constant stream of customers lining up to try its platters and sandwiches. The chain's carts are open rain or shine, even in snowstorms and hurricanes. Before the sun even rises, carts are washed, vegetables are chopped, and vendors are stocked up with everything they'll need for the day.
The Halal Guys' first cart opened in 1990, initially becoming popular with Muslim cab drivers looking for fast, authentic halal food, which is food that's permissible under Islamic law. The chain has since grown to five carts and two restaurants in New York City, plus 82 locations across the country. The first brick-and-mortar location opened in 2014, just before the company began its franchisee program with Fransmart.
And according to CEO Ahmed Abouelenein, the expansion is only just beginning. Abouelenein told Business Insider that The Halal Guys plans on opening as many as 400 restaurants globally over the next several years, with more than 100 opening in the first quarter of 2019.
In New York, general manager Mohamed Omar oversees the kitchen at headquarters and each of the five Halal Guys carts. Omar started with The Halal Guys six years ago as a driver, and before becoming a manager he worked at the carts, cooking food and training new employees.
I spent a recent morning shadowing Omar at the original cart on the corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue. Here's what the day was like:
