Today we’d like to introduce you to Ahmad Elattar.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Co-owners & Brothers in law Ahmad Elattar and Adam Khalid had been discussing opening a food business together for over 3 years. “We basically wanted to create the business that we would like to go to! Smooth assembly line style, Generous portions, Fresh ingredients, Fairly priced, and most importantly.. Halal! ” An Elevated NY Style street food experience, except with more unique protein additions like Jerk Chicken, Musakhan, and Seasoned Beef! in addition to offering more than 20 topping options and 6 unique sauces!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If it’s easy, everyone would be doing it! We initially signed the lease January 1st, 2025, and didn’t officially open until November 11th 2025! a full 10 months of just frustratingly waiting on permits from the city. But the waiting was just extra motivation for us to excel in what we do! There was also a lot of negative chatter about ” Why Allen??” referring to businesses opening and then shortly closing not soon after. And that’s where the risk was, but in our eyes all we saw was opportunity!! A massive population, a massive residential area close to the business, being close to Allen High School – one of the biggest high schools in the country! and also being less than 10 mins from both Plano and Mckinney. Potential exposure to over 500k population combined on Doordash and Ubereats!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about HALAL PAPI-NYC STREET FOOD?
We Serve Elevated NYC Style Street food, we offer 5 Protein options like the Classic NY Gyro and House Chicken, but also some unique flavored proteins options such as Jerk Chicken, Musakhan, and Seasoned Beef. We offer more than 20 topping options, and 6 homemade sauces. We are known for our generous portions! No skimping here!! What we are most proud of brand wise is how colorful our display looks, and how each bowl is tailor made for each customer. We pride ourself on our establishment being clean and our smooth and seamless ordering process. We also give new customers a sample to try the proteins because we want you to love what your buying before you buy it! PSA: We do not own a microwave, everything is freshly made here!!
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson we learned so far is that if you want to do anything in life – do your due diligince and just “START”. If you sit back and keep thinking about a perfect start, you never will. The main thing is that aso long as You know and have faith that you are taking steps in the right direction, making good decisions, and are humble enough to constantly adapt- success will be inevitable. God willing!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://halalpapi.com/
- Instagram: @halalpapitx
- Facebook: @halalpapitx
