Halal Guys opens in new Dearborn Heights strip mall

For decades, area residents have enjoyed food from The Halal Guys, but only while on vacation in other major cities.

The chain, which is mostly food trucks, had never been to Michigan prior to a few weeks ago when a brick and mortar restaurant opened in Dearborn Heights.

When Mufid Farha was on vacation in California a couple of years ago, he called his cousin Mohammad Hamad and told him about a restaurant version of the food cart.

“He called me and said he saw a brick and mortar,” Hamad said. “I didn’t think they were franchising, but we called and got approved for the Michigan market.”

Hamad said the new Dearborn Heights location — the first Halal Guys store in Michigan — soon will be followed by a Detroit location, and then at least three others in the metro area.

“We got the ball rolling and then had some delays due to COVID-19,” he said.

Hamad said they had to open a store quickly, and due to some litigation with a prior tenant in the Detroit building, they had to find and open another location quickly. Their realtor found the new building at 26668 Ford Road in Dearborn Heights and they went with it.

“We had delays here too though,” Hamad said. “There is a serious lack on shipping times at the moment. Our walk-in freezer sat in Tennessee for an extra five days because there was no one to bring it up here.”

He said there were other delays with specialized construction pieces that had to be ordered from out of state.

“We lost at least three months due to shipping delays,” he said. “We were supposed to be open June 1.”

Hamad said the Dearborn Heights location was meant to be and he’s happy to be opening a business so close to his hometown of Dearborn.

Fitting in

While Halal Guys is well known throughout the country, and the five additional countries they have expanded into, the Dearborn and Dearborn Heights area is an entirely different region to tackle. As the hub of Arab culture in the western world, there are already a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants in the area.

“We’re not selling Arabic food though,” Hamad said. “It’s kind of a northern Mediterranean food. It’s like an Egyptian/Greek menu, different from traditional Arabic food.”

He said they aren’t the average copy and paste Arabic food spot with shawarma.

“Halal doesn’t specifically refer to Arabic or Muslim,” Hamad said. “A lot of people are switching to halal or kosher foods. It’s just the way it’s prepared. It’s much cleaner meat and a more humane way of slaughtering the animals.”

Hamad said in the three weeks they’ve been open, they have shattered all of the company records for sales in the first seven, 14 and 21 days of being open.

“We’re still in the honeymoon phase of everyone coming out to try us,” he said. “So far everyone seems really happy with the food and the service.”

Early days

The Halal Guys started as a hot dog cart in New York in 1990. When the original owners realized how hard it was to make it as a hot dog vendor, they pivoted to Middle Eastern food.

The company’s three founders were all immigrants from Egypt. They were all ex-cab drivers, with a passion for food, much like Hamad.

While Hamad isn’t a former cabbie, he used to own several pizza restaurants and worked as a chef for several years. He currently has several other business interests, as well.

The Halal Guys chain has grown in the 31 years since it started. There are now 90 brick-and-mortar fast-casual restaurants, along with the food carts still in major cities, as well.

The restaurant is open from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays. For more information visit https://thehalalguys.com/locations/26650-ford-rd-dearborn-heights, or call the restaurant at 313-406-4628.