April 3, 2017

Meet Ali Husain of UrbanTaali in Gwinnett and Metro Atlanta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Husain.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
UrbanTaali is a Restaurant and mobile Food-truck dedicated to the serving fresh quality meals that are sure to satisfy any taste buds! We serve up many “Taali” which translates into the word “dishes” or “plates” in Hindi/Urdu (thali). We have specialty dishes, handcrafted burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, sandwiches, and sides with a twist of flavor.

Our story started in 2012, while most people were worrying about whether the end of the world was indeed upon us, four friends living in Atlanta were worrying about something much more important—what were they going to eat for dinner tonight?

These guys live each of their days differently from each other – one is working in the corporate world, one is an aspiring lawyer and two are students, but they have one thing in particular in common – they love food! No matter where their day takes them or how different their schedules are, they always find themselves sitting together around the dinner table, asking the same question – What are we going to eat tonight?

After months of eating out, ordering Chinese takeout, heating up frozen pizzas, and living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and smoothies. The idea of opening up a restaurant bounced around as a joke at first, but one night, after laughing about it, someone said, “Why not? Why don’t we open up a restaurant?” It was then that they knew that this wasn’t just an idea anymore— they wanted to make it a reality, so after weeks for research and brainstorming, it was decided that a food truck would be ideal. All the partners worked and grew up with a family restaurant at one point in their lives and all came from immigrant families who knew the concept of hard work and dedication.

With limited resources, we finally found an old broken food truck. After months of works and fixing the food truck and putting it up to working standards, UrbanTaali food truck was born. At that time, we knew there weren’t any other food truck with our cuisine. The idea was to bring famous dishes (taali) from major American urban cities and cultures to our hometown Atlanta. It started with New York’s famous food carts serving Chicken/Gyro and Rice hence we created our own Gryo/Chicken Taali. Our 5 Point Philly and Dirty Bird Sandwich was inspired by Philadelphia’s Philly Cheesesteak and our 285 Gyro Wrap and all beef Hot Dawgs were an inspiration from Chicago. We named our plates after areas and neighborhoods in Atlanta.

Furthermore, we have a unique advantage – our food is “halal”. Halal tradition demands there be proper care and welfare for the animals. Halal is a tradition that has nourished billions of people over the last 1,400 years. This ancient tradition promotes respect for the land, fair treatment for farmers, humane treatment of livestock and clean, wholesome food to eat. Due to our use of halal meat only, you’ll be amazed how good our food tastes and how it genuinely replenishes the body and soul

After running a successful food truck business and repeated demand from our customers wanting a brick and mortar location, we decided it was time to open a full restaurant with a larger menu. In 2016, that dream came true when we opened our first brick and mortar in Duluth near Gwinnett Place Mall. So far the food truck and restaurant have been incredibly successful and we hopefully plan open several other locations in downtown Atlanta, Cobb and Dekalb the future.

Has it been a smooth road?
Some of the struggles we faced were with finances and repairs with the old food truck. As typical of any young millennials and sons of working class immigrants, we did not have money to just spend. Us being in our mid 20’s, we did not have enough money saved to be worry free about the business. Many times we took turns to work on truck so we could save on employee pay. We also bought a very old food truck that needed some serious repair work. It had engine, transmission, brake issues. Whatever we made in the beginning went into repairing the food truck so it could still operate.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the UrbanTaali story. Tell us more about the business.
Our best known item is from New York’s food carts serving Chicken/Gyro and Rice hence we created our own Gryo/Chicken Taali. Our 5 Point Philly and Dirty Bird Sandwich was inspired by Philadelphia’s Philly Cheesesteak and our 285 Gyro Wrap and all beef Hot Dawgs were an inspiration from Chicago. Midtown Meaty Nachos are Atlanta based. We named our plates after areas and neighborhoods in Atlanta and keep a general urban/city theme in our restaurant. Quality is our number one priority and our goal is to serve the freshest food.

We also serve halal meat. Halal meat emphasizes on proper care and welfare for the animals. Halal meat promotes respect for the land, fair treatment for farmers, humane treatment of livestock and clean, wholesome food to eat. Due to our use of halal meat only, our food taste is unique from other places because the meat is handled and slaughtered a certain way.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We see a lot of growth because Atlanta is rapidly growing. We plan to open several more locations thru Atlanta and metro Atlanta. We also plan to buy more food trucks therefore we can be at multiple locations.

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