Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi gave up his $450,000 job to open a halal BBQ restaurant in Texas.
Kafi BBQ generated nearly $2.3 million in sales in its first year and is on track to make even more this year.
Although he accepts longer working hours and lives on his savings, Abdul-Kafi has no regrets about leaving the tech industry.
This article is based on a conversation with Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi (35), the owner and operator from Kafi BBQin Irving, Texas. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I worked in the tech industry for 14 years at companies like Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Shopify and Cruise. At my best, I earned $450,000 a year. However, over time, I lost the illusions I had about the industry.
I felt like work was increasingly about making money rather than improving people’s lives or helping companies. So at 33, I left San Francisco to take a job at a religious nonprofit in Texas, taking a pay cut of more than 50 percent.
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While working at the nonprofit, I continued to host dinner parties and barbecues for friends. I started making halal brisket and they kept telling me that they couldn’t find anything like it.
Many also said they avoided traditional barbecue restaurants because cross-contamination with pork is common, even when beef is on the menu. That’s when I started wondering if there was a market for something that didn’t already exist in Texas barbecue.
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Sales of over two million dollars
Kafi BBQ opened in December 2024. We had prepared enough barbecue for three days, but everything was sold out on the first day. We started grilling again that same night.
The restaurant later gained recognition. D Magazine named us one of the 12 best barbecue restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth, and Eater named us one of the 15 best new restaurants in America.
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Last year we achieved sales of almost 2.3 million dollars (around 2 million euros), and this year we expect up to 4 million dollars (around 3.5 million euros). Still, I haven’t paid out a single dollar since it opened and am living off my savings.
Barbecue is an expensive business
Our food costs are around $125,000 per month. The personnel costs are around 50,000 dollars (around 44,000 euros) per month. Rent is about $15,000 (about 13,000 euros), and utilities, marketing, condiments and disposable items add up to several thousand dollars. In total, we spend around $215,000 every month just to keep things running.
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We are now profitable in the sense that we make a monthly profit, but not yet in the sense that we have already paid off the entire initial investment for the restaurant, which was about a million dollars (about 880,000 euros).
Even though I work more hours than I did back in the tech industry – about 70 to 80 hours a week – I find the work far more fulfilling.
In the tech industry, I worked closely with my development teams, designers and other product managers, but my circle was relatively small. At the restaurant I constantly meet new people from different communities.
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About half of our guests eat halal food, the other half don’t. Because we do not serve pork and guarantee there is no cross-contamination with pork, we attract people who often feel left out at traditional barbecue restaurants.
At the same time, guests come to us who are curious about the recipes and flavors we develop. One of the best parts of my day is going from table to table, talking to guests and hearing their feedback. When someone likes the food, it means a lot to me.
Tech and BBQ aren’t all that different
Even though I left the tech industry, I brought many of the same skills with me to the restaurant industry. Before signing a lease, I spent months testing demand by selling brisket from home, hosting events, and collecting data. My goal was to remove as much uncertainty as possible before making a major investment.
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I became very meticulous about recording numbers. I worked with meat suppliers before opening to understand my costs. I measured how much a brisket weighed when I bought it, how much it weighed after it was trimmed and smoked, and how much I could ultimately sell it for. I wanted answers to every question that came to mind before I opened the doors.
Even after opening, I’m still meticulous. I have a spreadsheet that contains all of the restaurant’s recipes, with each ingredient weighed down to the gram. I wanted the recipes to be as precise and reproducible as possible. Whether it’s a side dish, dessert or barbecue rub, I know exactly how much of each ingredient is in it.
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I also approach the development of new dishes in the same way as I do product development. Every month I develop new sausages, desserts and specialties. When I launch something new, I don’t assume that I’ve got it right the first time. Instead, I walk around the dining room and ask guests what they think. Then I make changes based on that feedback.
An example of this are our “Burnt Ends” made from beef belly with pomegranate. I changed this recipe seven times before arriving at the current version.
In many ways, barbecue isn’t as different from the tech industry as you might think. I’m still experimenting, solving problems and constantly trying to improve a product. I think that’s why the transition felt so natural.
Read the original article on Business Insider US.
