Chef Chatter

Chef Chatter: How one high-end chef brought shawarma to San Diego's fast casual scene

Chef Ibrahim wanted to expand his culinary passion by bringing one of the most popular Middle Eastern street foods, shwarma, to San Diego at Simsim Outstanding Shawarma. The task proved more challenging than anticipated for a variety of reasons, but Ibrahim has succeeded.

October 28, 2019

Editor's note: Chef Chatter is a series featuring chef-authored blogs. If you'd like to write a Chef Chatter blog, send your idea to editor@fastcasual.com.

By Chef Ibrahim

When I lived in the Middle East, I was an executive chef at four- and five-star hotels. I led multiple kitchens making different styles of cuisine, not only Middle Eastern. When I was approached by the founders of Simsim Outstanding Shawarma, I wasn't sure I wanted to leave the Middle East to open a shawarma restaurant in San Diego that focuses almost 100% on what is — to me — street food. I not only had a comfortable career but also wanted to expand my culinary passion. You see, shawarma in the Middle East is the equivalent of burgers here in the U.S. It's not complicated, and many chefs would say it's not challenging. However, I was eager to bring my style of shawarma to the U.S especially after learning the vision for Simsim. Looking back now, I underestimated how challenging it would be. Though I was being asked to technically do less from a culinary perspective, I had to figure out how to operate in a foreign country.

The initial challenge I faced was product sourcing — primarily halal meats and spices. Major food vendors in San Diego didn't have competitive pricing on halal meats since it's still a segment of food that is not in the highest of demand, although that is changing. Eventually, through research and visiting Arabic markets, I found niche halal protein vendors that met my standards. Second, I found it challenging to find spices in the U.S. that matched the quality of what I was used to in the Middle East. The spices here did not have the same colors and aromas, and I wasn't happy with the flavors when I was in menu development. I ultimately resorted to ordering bulk spices from the Middle East to make sure our food tasted the way I know it should taste. Every ingredient I use is hand selected in order to maintain the authenticity of the food and provide the best shawarma experience possible.

Keeping the menu authentic was just the beginning of the struggles I faced. Employee and labor laws in the Middle East are very different than in the U.S. Employees are paid monthly. and there are no worries about things like "meal breaks" or "hours worked." When it came time to build my culinary team,
I had to get down to the basics due to the lack of knowledge about Middle Eastern cuisine. Not only was my new staff not familiar with the cuisine, but the pool of people to pull from was much smaller than I was used to having. In the Middle East, positions within restaurants, especially in hotels, are highly sought-after and that was just not the case in the U.S., especially for a fast-casual concept. We addressed these challenges by offering a higher than minimum wage starting salary and a thorough training program that lasts longer than your average one.

Despite the challenges I faced, I am grateful for the opportunity the Simsim team gave me to bring my style of shawarma to San Diego, a city where Middle Eastern food is incredibly underrepresented. My experience has also allowed me to grow as a businessperson. To chefs who are adapting to a new city or a new concept, my advice is to be patient and diligent. If you look hard enough, the answers are there, and for those that aren't, use your ingenuity to come up with solutions.