The Halal Guys is a true street-to-boardroom success story, Mark Antonation reported this week; the business was founded in New York City by Abdelbaset Elsayed, Mohamed Abouelenein and Ahmed Elsaka, three Egyptians who began selling gyros, grilled chicken and falafel sandwiches and platters from a cart in 1990. Since then, the company has grown to more than ninety locations worldwide (with about 400 in the works) — and metro Denver is next, thanks to franchise owners and Colorado natives Chris Bui and Kevin Than.
"Denver has, for the last fifteen to twenty years, been a hotbed of creativity and innovation in the fast-casual restaurant segment," says Halal Guys CEO Ahmed Abouelenein, who's also the son of one of the company's founders. "It’s a city that we have long recognized as a sophisticated, vibrant place; we just hadn’t found the right partners to make it a reality. Kevin and Chris, being lifelong residents, proved to be the perfect partners to bring the Halal Guys to Denver."