Coffee shop, franchise MOTW brings Arabic-style drinks to Skokie

Another coffee serving traditional Arab drinks, espresso, slats and light bites opened its doors in Skokie, and this time, it is part of a franchise with operations in seven states.

The Halal Coffee Shop Motw, which represents the Muslims of the world, is located at 9406 Skokie BLVD., Skokie, and is open until 10 p.m. Monday to Sunday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, just like the custom for typical Arab cafes, according to the co-owner Fahad Zuberi.

Coffee is also part of a more important goal than the family business must build bridges in the Muslim community alignment with their Motw non -profit group.

The company, like the non -profit organization, aims to bring people together, said Fahad Zuberi. “What is a better place than a coffee, right? Coffee is something that everyone can relate to many ways,” he said.

According to the Motw website, the non-profit organization started with an Instagram page when the anti-Muslim feelings were alarming in 2014, according to the founder of Motw, Sajjad Shah. The mission was “to shed light on the lives of Muslim individuals through their own stories”.

The mission then led to donations in areas of the Middle East who need help, according to Saad Zuberi, the brother of Fahad Zuberi. The discs have enabled Motw to provide help and shelter from residents of Yemen, Ethiopia and Gaza, according to its website.

In the hope of cementing a place for Muslims to gather and that the non-Muslims know them, Shah’s next plan was to open the cafes to broadcast their message more. The first cafes opened in Indiana. The Chicago region has one in Naperville, another in Lombard, the Skokie store and another which opened its doors on Saturday July 26 in Palatine.

Motw joins other Arab style cafes in the North suburbs, including Qahweh, Matari Coffee and Sweet Reserve Cafe and Bakery in Skokie and Haraz Coffee in Niles.

Fahad Zuberi argues that he does not see other stores such as competing rivals, however, even given their proximity to each other. If anything, he says they all help each other by being visible and, in some cases, even have family ties with each other.

Fahad Zuberi also said that the increase in cafes made a trend in the Muslim community while young men are starting to move away from the hookah bars at the coffee to socialize.

“Coffee is a clean business,” he said, and parents can feel comfortable if their children decide to go out for a cup of Joe instead of inhaling smoke.

Although the co -owners Ovais Zuberi or Fahad Zuberi had a history of coffee, the two have commercial history and commercial diplomas from DEPAUL University, said Fahad Zuberi. Fahad Zuberi said its commercial history includes an online Tik store called Snack’d, which sells viral foods such as Dalgona cookies, popularized by the Netflix “Squid Games” and Dubai Chocolate program.

The passage to the coffee was after seeing the booming business of the Yemeni and Muslims in Lombard, said Fahad Zuberi. The first store in the Illinois in Motw was in Lombard, and the product’s product and message were relatable, which prompted him to open his own coffee franchise.

“Someone had already done the hard work for us,” said Fahad Zuberi about the opening of the franchise instead of starting a store from scratch. According to his previous projects, he collected funds to pay $ 75,000 Motw to open the site of Skokie. In total, he and Ovais Zuberi spent $ 425,000 to open the coffee.

The additional $ 350,000 was devoted to construction costs and materials in the construction of the interior of the shop, kitchen and coffee manufacturing equipment, deposit and first month of rent, furniture and decor, signaling, marketing, license fees and more.

Alina Zuberi, the cousin of Fahad Zuberi, manages coffee. She said that the transition to open the store stabilized.

The three recommend that customers for the first time try the Spanish latte, similar to a Horchata and Empanadas. With sweet and savory topics, the Empanadas sold in coffee are filled with chicken in butter, spinach, steak of phillonnaire cheese, guava and cheese and apple.