The Halal Guys, the first mainstream American Halal food restaurant chain, will open their first East Coast location outside of New York City in April. The franchised location will open in East Brunswick, New Jersey, on Route 18 South, and is the first of a number of units planned for New Jersey and the rest of the East Coast.
The Halal Guys launched a franchise program in 2014, when they partnered with Fransmart as an exclusive development partner. The new franchisee, who has more than 15 years of restaurant experience, and is a self-proclaimed ‘long-time fan of the food,’ worked with Fransmart vice president of sales, Ryan Durishin, on securing multiple units in territories which include New Jersey; Long Island, New York; Delaware; and Washington, D.C.
The franchise group was diligent in finding a great first location to open in New Jersey, and is currently evaluating future real estate sites, hoping to have subsequent locations open by the end of 2016 in the North New Jersey and D.C. areas.
In an interview with the franchisee, he was quoted as saying, “Every partner in our group has been a loyal customer of The Halal Guys, and we’ve had a great experience working with them every step of the way. We are excited to bring the brand to New Jersey first, where many customers are already familiar with us and we have already gained an impressive pre-opening following.”
Since partnering with Fransmart and announcing the launch of a franchise program in 2014, The Halal Guys has opened two corporate brick-and-mortar restaurants in Manhattan, and six franchised locations in the cities of Chicago; Houston; Manila, the Philippines; and Long Beach and Costa Mesa, California. It also has more than 300 franchise units in development in territories including Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and the entire state of California, which sold out within the first two months of franchising, as well as international locations for the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, and Canada.