While many people today think that the American dream is dead, they obviously have never met
The Halal Guys. Coming over to the US as immigrants, The Halal Guys have proved that anything is
truly possible in the land of the free as they've turned their street food cart into
a worldwide restaurant brand. For all those people who are yet to try The Halal Guys food,
take a look at the Top 10 Untold Truths Of The Halal Guys. It will make you want to eat
it!
It All Started With A Simple Hot Dog
Whenever anyone goes for a walk in New York City, you will find the streets lined with
food trucks. Most types of food can be found and a lot of them at reasonable prices. Because
of this, food trucks have become many people's favorite way to get great tasting food quickly.
We really are living in the golden food truck age and New York is one of the best places
for it. Long before food trucks lined the streets of the big apple, three immigrants,
Abdelbaset Elsayed, Ahmed Elsaka and Mohammed Abouelenein left their home country of Egypt
and headed to the US in search of a better life. Once in New York City, the three guys
found it hard to get jobs on par with what they had trained in back home. Mohammed Abouelenein
was a trained veterinarian. After a few jobs such as kitchen workers and driving a cab,
they decided that food vendor was a job they could do and they picked the hot dog. We can
see why; the hot dog is cheap, easy to make and screams New York City. However, not long
into their hot dog business, the trio decided that the hot dog was not a hearty enough meal
and they also wanted to recreate food that they knew. Thus The Halal Guys was born and
their menu hasn't changed since.
They Have Cab Drivers To Thank, Sort Of
When The Halal Guys decided to change from hot dogs to a Halal cart and really give the
business their all, it was difficult to get the word out. Unlike today when Twitter or
Facebook can do it in seconds. This was the early 1990s and the internet was still a pipe
dream to many, or at the very least a painfully slow technology that nobody had access to
yet. Because of that, and the fact that they were located in one of the busiest cities
in the world. Not just with people but with restaurants, food carts, and vendors as well,
it posed a bit of a problem for The Halal Guys and how to get their food out into the
city. One thing that helped them almost immediately was the local cab drivers. As a lot of the
cab drivers were Muslim, they flocked to The Halal Guys cart as it was a great way to get
quick and cheap Halal food. Once they started to make The Halal Guys their regular place
to eat, the cab drivers started to spread the word and soon The Halal Guys found lines
and lines of people wanting their tasty food. Now, of course, their food is eaten by everyone
from all backgrounds and cultures. But cab drivers played a huge part in making them
the success they are today.
Better Get The Combo
It's fair to say that the streets of New York, and in fact, most cities around the world,
are filled with food trucks. While restaurants and fast food joints will always be a popular
place for people to eat at, the food truck has really taken the world by storm in the
last few years or so. The ability to get any kind of food you want, most of which are cooked
to restaurant standard or beyond and any hour of the day, has proved to be the key to success
for food carts and The Halal Guys are no different. Their menu has been pretty much the same since
The Halal Guys started selling their Halal foods. Even across all their carts and restaurants
today, the menu is pretty faithful to its original. They offer a choice of sandwiches
and platters. The sandwiches come with salad and a choice of falafel, chicken, and their
famous Gyro. The falafel sandwiches are a popular choice in a lot of their restaurants
but the platters are by far and away everyone's go-to choice. The platters come with the same
choice of meats and proteins, with salad and rice but for the true Halal Guys fans, there
is the combo. The combo platter is everything in one glorious container. You can even add
fries on top if you like. All dishes, both platters and sandwiches, come with toppings
of your choice and of course their infamous sauces.
The Infamous Sauces
Speaking of the incredible foods, we now come to those infamous sauces. Most Halal Guys
location will offer you a choice of three sauces to add to your meal; white sauce, red
sauce, and barbecue sauce. We'd never thought we'd say this about barbecue sauce, especially
as we love to drizzle it on anything and everything, but in this context, it's not actually that
exciting. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that is up against two truly great
sauces. First, the white sauce. Looking like a cross between mayonnaise and tzatziki, The
Halal Guys white sauce is a cooling, refreshing and creamy delight that pairs perfectly with
the food. People love this sauce so much that a lot of the time they drown their food in
it and end up with a white sauce soup. While it may look like regular mayonnaise or tzatziki,
it isn't. The white sauce is actually..... we don't know what it is. The Halal Guys keep
the ingredients to this sauce so secret that even Colonel Sanders and Coco-Cola are jealous
of their secret-keeping. While we may not know what is in their special white sauce,
we can certainly enjoy consuming it. Then we come to the sauce that has everyone talking,
their incredibly hot red sauce. When we say incredibly hot, we truly mean that. While
other restaurants and companies claim to have really hot sauce, more often than not it's
a little disappointing. However, the hot sauce at The Halal Guys is a real mouth burner.
To put it into technical terms; The Halal Guys hot sauce has a Scoville rating of 100,000
- 130,000. Considering that a score of over 80,000 is considered 'very highly pungent,'
this sauce is seriously hot. It is, in fact, twice as hot as Tabasco and cayenne chili
and hotter than Thai chili. Too much of this sauce will have your eyes watering.
Taking Over The World
Starting out with opening extra carts around the city of New York, The Halal Guys actually
waited quite a while before they began franchising their company or building actual restaurants.
But that day came when they met the restaurant franchising company Fransmart, who were actually
responsible for the franchising of much loved fast-food chains Five Guys and Qdoba Mexican
Grill. Once The Halal Guys hired Fransmart, their brand and food were ready to compete
in the big leagues. The Fransmart founder was actually a huge fan of the food cart market
and wanted to take that further, so after a year-long negotiation, the deal was done.
Within the first year of their franchise plan, The Halal Guys opened up restaurants across
the country; California, Washington, New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, and Illinois were first to
get their hands on The Halal Guy franchise. Since then they have rolled out more restaurants
across the country and are now venturing into the international market in places such as
Canada, the Philipines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the UK. There are plenty more restaurants
planned in The Halal Guys world domination plan and we can't wait to see this tasty food
on a street near us very soon.
They Never Want To Close
When a new company starts out, it can be difficult to make money. Not only are there plenty of
outgoing costs; ingredients, premises, and staff, to name a few, but then there is the
difficult task of getting people to eat your food and have them coming back again and again.
Hopefully bringing more people with them each time. Until the time comes in which you have
plenty of profit coming in, one way to save money is to have a small workforce that will
work no matter what. This is something that the original The Halal Guys food truck did
and they continue to have that mentality to this day. The original truck very rarely closes.
In fact, since it first opened in the early 1990s, The Halal Guys food truck has only
been closed for 20 days. And that was all due to the roads being closed in so they didn't
have a choice. No matter what the weather or conditions, The Halal Guys food truck will
always be open. They even braved Hurrican Sandy and opened up the truck, once they were
allowed to do so of course. As well as facing some server winds and rain. The Halal Guys
actually gave free food to all emergency workers and first responders. Now, that is commitment.
It's Hard Work
On our list of untold truths about The Halal Guys, we have mentioned a lot about their
food and how the world is falling in love with it. Now we come to the actual work that
is involved. While working at any fast food restaurant is hard work, working on the food
carts is a whole different story. There is a lot that goes into that famous combo platter,
and a lot of that work has happened when we are all tucked up into bed. The Halal Guys
carts open at 10 am and don't close till 4 am on weekdays and 5:30 am on the weekends.
Already that's a long day! During the working hours, there is a constant stream of people
that want to get their hands on this tasty food, which doesn't leave a lot of downtime
for the staff. But before all that even happens all the food needs to be chopped and prepared
as well, as all carts and equipment must be washed and cleaned, that's before their working
day has actually started. Then they come to the end of their day, at 5:30 in the morning,
and are ready to crawl into bed but not yet. Once they close the carts the workers then
have to take them back to headquarters, empty and clean them so they are ready to be used
again in a few hours. While we all love the food at The Halal Guys, we don't envy their
workload.
They Created A New Food Genre
Ok, so we are not saying that the food that The Halal Guys serve is a new food, far from
it. But it is fair to say that the popularity of their Halal food in street food form has
certainly paved the way for others of its type to follow. We also know that street food
is not new to New York City either nor did The Halal Guys invent it but combining the
two; fast, cheap and tasty Halal food that you can get any time of night and day, that
certainly wasn't a thing in New York when The Halal Guys started. Or, if it was it was
very limited. American Halal Street Food is what people are referring to with this kind
of cuisine and that looks set to catch on even further. Due to the success of the original
Halal Guys cart, many other food carts of similar types are popping up all of the city,
and the country too. This new wave of Halal food is certainly finding its feet in the
western world and it's also opening a lot of people's eyes, and tastebuds, to new and
exciting foods.
National Gyro Day
That's right. The food that The Halal Guys have become famous for has its very own day.
Gyro, which comes from the Greek word 'gheereezo' which means to turn, is an ancient Greek way
of cooking meat. The meat is cooked on a vertical rotisserie which then turns slowly while cooking.
The meat is then carved off in paper-thin slices and then finished off on a griddle.
The Gyro has become the benchmark and poster boy for great Greek fast food, and while this
style of food has been around for generations, much of the world is just starting to wake
up to this delicious meat. To celebrate this style of cooking meat there is now a Gyro
Day in which all restaurants that serve Gyro celebrate its glory with special promotions
and prizes. The Halal Guys are no exception and they go all out to celebrate Gyro Day
with a multitude of offers and specials throughout all of their restaurants. If you are looking
to join in the fun and celebrate Gyro Day then the date you need to put in your diary
is September 1st.
New York New York
While The Halal Guys look set to expand and take over the world, there is no denying that
New York City will always be their home. 53rd Street and 6th avenue, the home of the original
Halal Guys street cart, has almost become a landmark and tourist attraction. People
line up for hours just to get a taste of the birthplace of this food. Not only did New
York City give its founders a home and a shot at the American dream, but New York is where
The Halal Guys actually started to build their budding empire. Once their original cart had
become successful, they opened up several new carts and two restaurants in the city,
which they still have and are in fact the only restaurants owned completely by the company.
Their headquarters is also in New York and so is their heart. While The Halal Guys look
to conquer everything, they will always be linked with the city that never sleeps. The
fact that they started their company in New York City may have also added to their appeal
around the world as a lot of trends, including food trends, travel well from New York. 'If
they can make it work in New York, they can make it work anywhere.' That may not be the
exact saying but all things 'New York' do travel well as it's the city that most people
love, even if they've never been there.
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