Haus of Brunch: Yemeni owned halal business marries Southern Soul food with Middle Eastern coffee and hospitality 

By Nargis Rahman

Maher Obeid is a restauranter and entrepreneur who grew up in a family of business owners.

“We have a total of three brands and five total restaurants with the family,” he said.

Obeid opened the Haus of Brunch halal brunch concept at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit. 

“I’ve stepped out and did my own thing on a twist with outside of the Mediterranean concepts, and a more so of a brunch style concept, Southern soul and Mediterranean,” he said. 

Obeid came to the U.S. from Yemen when he was 3 years old with his family.

He said in the early 1990s there were limited halal food options. 

Obeid said he worked in restaurants from a young age, working at his father’s restaurants. 

“I grew up understanding the restaurant itself and how to run and operate it… I just dove deep into running restaurants,” he said. 

Creating a halal food concept

Obeid said he opened his new restaurant to introduce halal brunch in Detroit. 

“Many of us that have that dietary restriction, you’re always worried with that feeling that maybe it’s cross contaminated with other meats, but there was never a fully Halal concept,” he said.

For Obeid, having a halal brunch house goes beyond serving halal meats and not serving pork or alcohol. It’s about running a business on Islamic principles, hospitality and educating customers about the origins of the food. 

“I think people, when they know a good product and a good experience, they’ll show up regardless of it,” he said.

Obeid said he replaces pork items with chicken, beef or turkey. 

Haus of Brunch offers southern soul food options like chicken and waffles and shrimp and grits. The restaurant offers mocktails and Yemeni coffee. There’s also Stuffed Peaches N’ cream toast and skillets – including The Cadillac Skillet named after the Westin Book Cadillac.

“We’re pretty much a scratch made kitchen. Every all our compost is made in house,” he said. 

Obeid said breakfast potatoes, batters, and chicken and waffles are made in house. 

“Our chicken is marinated and breaded all in house, and it’s a very complimentary dish with our specialty coffee,” he shared. 

Roots in Hamtramck

Obeid grew up in Hamtramck and attend Hamtramck Public Schools. 

He said one of the only options to access halal food growing up was the Yemeni owned Bishr Poultry & Food Center, located on Conant Ave., bordering Detroit and Hamtramck. They sell made-to-order freshly cut live chicken, fried chicken and hot meals, and groceries.

“Everybody got their chicken from there, because that was the only place in the once there’s an option for halal, all other options cease to exist, at least for Muslims,” he explained. 

Obeid said, now as options for halal food have expanded, it’s more the reason to support these businesses, including the fully halal concept Haus of Brunch. 

“It’s all the reason for all Muslims to come in and dine there,” he said.

Obeid said Yemenis have a long history and tradition in trade.

As a Yemeni business owner, he has the opportunity to create jobs, while showcasing a culture of hospitality, and faith. 

“I’m trying to make sure that there’s a commerce there for all people to be able to multiculturally come to a place that not it’s not just focused on whether it’s Yemeni or, American food, but mainly a place where different cultures (come together),” he expressed.

His business is 100 percent minority owned, with Arab American and African American employees, who often help create menu items to match southern food with halal ingredients.

He said it’s also important for him to share his experiences with his community. 

“I want to be able to showcase to my community that you have the ability to branch off and do different things and actually show you know and grow in life and in a career or in business in many different ways,” he said. 

Previously, the halal food market in Metro Detroit mostly encompassed ethnic foods at restaurants, however it has recently expanded into American foods with halal meats such as halal tacos, chicken sandwich shops and steakhouses. 

Fortune Business Insights reported the halal food market was a $1.7 trillion industry as of 2020, estimated to bloom to $3.7 trillion by 2028.

Obeid said this change in culture has created more creative outlets for entrepreneurs. 

“It’s actually exciting to find these new opportunities to actually be able to maintain that restriction, the restrictive diet, and still have the options that we actually grew up on,” he said. “Now that the options are there, it’s actually challenging our community to be creative.” 

Taking a leap of faith

Obeid said his Islamic faith plays a huge role in how he conducts his business.

“I grew up as a Muslim. My faith has been, I think, the cradle to all my decisions and my principles of how I handle myself in character, in business and with my employees and with my vendors, with everybody that I’m associating myself with on a day-to-day,” he conveyed.

He said at times it can be challenging to find alternative methods to conducting business to keep it halal – such as financing the business without any interest or Riba.  

“So, it’s partnering with people that are like minded or willing to finance this part, these concepts with us, without user or interest per se. So, I we haven’t been we didn’t go to any banks,” he said.

Obeid said it’s also challenging to source products that are fully halal in an industry which hasn’t fully tapped into this genre.

For example, at times he has a hard time matching the products he wants to provide.

“We have a challenge finding a halal sausage, so we’re curating our own chicken sausage. So, in many ways, my faith has been everything I go back to I go back to, and am I deviating at any point? And sometimes it gets very, very hard. And in so many ways, I got to find a way where I can maintain that in a different aspect without it takes a lot of research and creativity, because I got to go back to the sources of that,” he said.

Obeid hopes to expand his business to a few more locations within Metro Detroit and nationally. 

Haus of Brunch is located at 204 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48226, inside the Westin Book Cadillac.