Cars often double-parked in front of the chain restaurant before dawn, as members of the Muslim community assembled, hoping to have halal chicken tenders or turkey-bacon omelets as theirA general manager frantically took orders outside with a pen and paper in an effort to ensure everyone could be served before sunrise. Some, finding no available tables, would eat out of styrofoam containers while sitting on the curb.
A menu of halal specials, or foods permissible under Islamic law, launched during Ramadan in 2009, and he also decided to open earlier for those looking to dine before sunrise. Business was slow at first: one or two tables ordered each pre-dawn morning, but the following Ramadan, more guests were trickling in.suhoor
When the realtor-turned-restaurateur purchased the Fullerton IHOP in 2006, he brought his own meats purchased from Diamond Bar’s Aljibani Halal Meats, and instructed his chefs on how to prepare them just for him — and how to avoid cross-contamination with the restaurant’s pork products; both locations now maintain separate refrigerators, shelves, fryers and griddles for halal meats and non-pork items.
The growth for Ashraf has largely been possible through in-person marketing visits to local mosques, first in Orange County, now in Los Angeles, which have been primarily carried out by his general manager: Mariana Macias. Raised Catholic, she began working with Ashraf in 2006, and said she was unaware of Islamic practice or halal requirements, but learned more as she dropped off fliers advertising the Fullerton IHOP’s halal meats in mosques and at Muslim student programs.
“We realized that any brand of halal was much better: Chicken would come out of the box much more tender, much more juicy,” Oganesyan said. “We had a brining process, and we had to do a lot less of our brining process because the chicken was so easy to work with.”
As long as it doesn’t bite back.
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