Halal Guys: Is there crack in their sauce?

By: Sanya Saud

The ever-focused, yellow sweatshirt wearing Halal Guys intensely concentrate on serving their famous chicken and rice/gyros to a never-ending line in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Highly paid executives, affluent residents, tourists and cab drivers swarm midtown. It is also home to the world famous (no exaggeration) Halal Guys.

The Halal Guys logo is as loud and prominent as their yellow colored shirts and bags. It appears as a trademark for one of the best halal street vendors in the NYC area. There are a bunch of other carts and vendors wearing similar yellow outfits and serving similar menus claiming to be the best. But guess what? There is absolutely no competition for the white sauce or as some call it “crack sauce.” I’ll let it speak for itself.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m publicly admitting, that I am one of those addicts. As a regular customer of four years I am guilty of not only being a loyal customer but a customer who craves the chicken and rice platter. While waiting in line, sometimes for hours, it made me curious to know what the story was behind, Halal Guys. Thinking about the success this business has achieved in the last 20 years, I wanted to learn more. In speaking with one of the workers, Ramy Awd, who needless to say was juggling the long line of customers and my questions simultaneously, shouted, “NEXT!”

Originally the Halal Guys team is from Egypt, including the 53 year- old owner, Mohammad. It’s a business run by four additional partners and thirty workers to serve the long lines around the clock. They decided on 53rd street and 6th avenue to serve the cab and limo drivers who may stop and get their food in no time. Most cab drivers in New York tend to be either from South Asia and Middle East with a natural taste for this common Egyptian cuisine.

People might think that Egyptians serving Egyptian/Arabic food has everything to do with their culture but the most interesting part is that the white sauce recipe has Greek origins. The white sauce definitely differentiates them from others but it’s not just that. The red sauce also has a unique taste which most people don’t know or talk about. It is also made with some special ingredients including red chili powder. It’s been twenty years since they have been serving the public and so far there has been no health complaints. That says something about the food quality, “We try to make sure that the meat products are clean, of good quality, naturally made with no artificial color additions,” Awd explained. “It costs us more but we couldn’t have survived without positive word of mouth. So it’s the whole package that makes us different.” All the food supplies come from Queens, and the halal food is not just limited to the Muslim customers but people from almost every walk of life, religion and culture drop by. Famous personalities including movie stars like Egyptian actor, Ahmed Halmy and several athletes and soccer players are regular patrons. The most popular item is the mixed platter which contains chicken and lamb combo with rice and lettuce.

Halal Guys serves only in Manhattan but it’s just not on 53rd and 6th but also on 52nd and 6th and 53rd and 7th avenue though timings are different. Over the weekends sometimes they serve around two thousand people, “Most of the overzealous crowd behaves itself, which is nice to see – maybe they really like the food despite their state of mind” says Ramy. Also interestingly enough sometimes people standing in long lines break out into the chicken-and-rice song which keeps them going.

All these years I thought there was just one secret to the Halal Guys brand, but there is one more. It’s called the ten dollar deal which exists but not always. If there is a long queue and you don’t want to wait for more than an hour then this works. And please don’t forget there is always a long queue…