14 August 2012
BEIRUT: For Fadi Malas, CEO of Just Falafel, which has just arrived in Beirut, the geopolitical origins of the food are irrelevant. What is important is that this delicious staple food can be adapted to become one of the most versatile vegetarian meals, and one that can hold its own against the McDonalds and Pizza Huts of this world.Alongside hummus and tabbouleh, falafel has been claimed by both the Lebanese and their southern neighbors. Others claim it was invented by Egyptian Copts as a Lenten meal that originally used foul instead of chickpeas. But to Lebanese-British Malas, this debate is not important.
We will never dispute the origin of falafel, but no one can dispute where the best falafel can be eaten, he says, from the new store on Bchara al-Khoury in central Beirut.
People should not get all emotional with it. Instead, just enjoy it for what it is.
While there are falafel shops in destinations ranging from Tokyo to Amsterdam, Malas believes the food has not received the attention it deserves no one has taken it to that level.
Burger joints and pizzerias may be several minutes from your home or work, but falafel shops are not yet that ubiquitous even in the Middle East.
Because of this, he says, falafel, whether in his store or elsewhere, retains its traditional connotations.
This is a food that has been the least commercialized across all food categories, so you still taste the culture in it and the history and politics, he says, noting that the pizza of today shares little in common with its ancestors.
Malas cites the Starbucks-led coffee revolution of the late 1990s as an inspiration for Just Falafel, which he co-founded in the UAE in 2007 along with a group of friends who had set out to create some innovative sandwiches.
Although the menu started small, with just the original falafel (Lebanese on their current menu) falafel, pickles, parsley, mint, tomato and tahini, in a pitta bread it has diversified gradually since.
The first adaptation was the Indian, due to a large migrant population in the UAE, and substitutes the parsley and mint for white cabbage, and the tahini for a spicy dressing. Next came the Greek, with fresh cucumber, pesto, olives and a yoghurt dressing.
Today there are eight different takes on the chickpea classic, from the Japanese avocado, wasabi, sesame seeds, sweet chili sauce on white bread to the Italian mozzarella, basil, pesto, tomato sauce on ciabatta.
For those missing that fast food taste, there is now even the American burger which sees the falafel paired with mayonnaise, cocktail sauce and cheese between a burger bun.
All of a sudden we had a captive menu that gave this food category enough weight, Malas says.
He insists these reworked falafels are not just a gimmick, citing as evidence the fact that the Lebanese accounts for only around 10 percent of all sales.
The most popular sandwiches vary according to the locale.
Just Falafel shops are currently open in 10 different countries across the Middle East, but the company has received 2,500 franchise requests over the last few months, and looks to open one a week across the world over the next year.
India, Australia and the United Kingdom are the new target destinations.
While the Beirut store is Lebanons first, one will soon open at City Mall, and the company has already had numerous franchise requests from Tripoli, Sidon and Tyre.
The Beirut Just Falafel branch opens just up the street from the two Sahyoun brothers stores, perhaps the most famous falafel shops in the city if not the country the first of which opened in 1933.
When asked about the location of the first store, Malas denies the choice was motivated by competition.
In any market that we go to, we do proper mapping across the city. I think this is an area where the visibility is incredible, he says.
With an entrance on each side of the store, traffic to and from Downtown Beirut can be targeted.
Despite this prominent location, he says, The rent is not prohibitive, compared to other areas we looked at in the city. At the end of the day we operate a business and we want to make sure it makes sense to all the parties involved that it works.
The CEO says that Just Falafel is not trying to compete with independent, local eateries, but rather the big fast food chains.
The fact that the food is vegetarian also helps in this regard, he says.
In a world increasingly aware of the dangers of eating too much meat, the falafel meal can offer a perfect protein substitute, Malas says.
Falafel is naturally a vegetarian food its not doing this to be trendy, he adds.
Active on social media, (the brand has nearly half a million Facebook likes) Just Falafel, while perhaps not attempting to be trendy, seems to have tapped into a younger generation.
A recent photo of the Beirut store, before it had even opened, has 1,011 likes on the site.
It may be just falafel, but this new concept restaurant seems to have caused quite a stir already.
Copyright The Daily Star 2012.
