When Shahezad Contractor started his halal burger business, his goal was simple: “I wanted more halal options.”
Now with eight stores in the Northeast, he has even bigger dreams for Cousins Burger, a halal restaurant chain he plans to launch in 2024.
“Our goal is to be the next In-N-Out or the next Shake Shack,” the contractor told CNBC Make It.
Contractor, 44, is the founder and CEO of Cousins Food Co., a Philadelphia-based halal restaurant group. In addition to Cousins Burgers, the contractor also operates Cousins Pizza, a halal pizza joint, and Cousins Smokehouse and Burgers, a halal barbecue joint.
In total, his restaurants brought in more than $4 million in revenue in 2025, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
In the contractor’s view, there is “a lot of untapped potential” in the halal food market. “You don’t have to be Muslim to enjoy Halal,” says the contractor. Many people prefer halal meat because of its “high quality and cleanliness” and more humane treatment of animals.
Outside of the Halal Guys restaurant franchise, there are relatively few mainstream American-style halal food options in the United States, Contractor said.
He wants to change that.
how he started
The Long Island-raised contractor got into the restaurant business almost by accident, he says. His first passion was technology. After earning a degree in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Old Westbury, I have worked in the IT industry for 24 years.
The turning point came when his friend Tabish Hoda asked a contractor to participate in a halal food festival in 2023. The contractor, who has no formal culinary training but frequently cooks for family and friends, decided to make smash burgers. It was “the easiest thing I could have done,” he says.
He bought enough meat to feed about 500 customers, hoping for leftovers. Instead, the contractor sold out by 6pm that day. “That’s when I realized there was great potential in providing American-style halal food,” he says.
The contractor started considering the idea of opening his own restaurant in Philadelphia, he says, and thought it was the “perfect place” to start a halal business because of Philadelphia’s large Muslim population.
The first Cousins Burger store.
CNBC Make It
He partnered with restaurant owner Rizwan Ahmed, whom he met at a halal festival, to transform one of Ahmed’s existing restaurants into Cousins Burger’s first location in 2024.
From there, business expanded rapidly. Cousins Burger currently has eight locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
the secret of his success
Contractor attributes the restaurant’s popularity to three key characteristics: high-quality ingredients, “really simple” recipes and excellent customer service.
He gets his meat from Prime Halal, a Halal-certified butcher based in Philadelphia. “It’s a little more expensive than what’s sold in regular restaurants, but the taste speaks for itself,” he says.
Smashburger is “by far” the number one menu item at Cousins Burgers, according to the contractor, and they’ve cracked the recipe down to a science. A portion of USDA Prime Black Angus Beef is seared on a flat-top grill, seasoned with a special spice blend, and covered with white American cheese. Served on a lightly buttered and toasted potato roll, topped with pickles and Cousins Burger’s signature house sauce.
Cousins Burger’s Halal Smash Burger.
CNBC Make It
A smashburger usually costs $7 or $8, he said. Exact prices vary by location due to rent differences.
Currently, food costs are “through the roof,” contractors say. “I wish we could sell $4 burgers, but that’s simply not possible. The economics make no sense.” Cousins Burger’s other major expenses are rent and labor, the contractor said.
“Leap forward with faith” in a growing industry
These days, contractors are less involved in the day-to-day operations of a restaurant. His main responsibilities will be marketing, meeting with business partners and “continuing to grow the brand.”
Contractor, who is the sole breadwinner for a family that includes his wife and two daughters, said he felt it was a big risk to quit his “very comfortable” IT job to start a restaurant. At the same time, he began to worry that AI would affect his job security, so he decided to “take the plunge” and start his own business.
“Building something for myself that had the potential to generate generational wealth really appealed to me,” he says.
The contractor’s long-term goal is to make Cousins Burger a global brand, he said. The company hopes to open 50 locations over the next few years and expand to other countries, including Canada.
“I don’t think the sky is the limit,” says the contractor. “We’re going to keep going until someone tells us to stop or we can’t do it anymore.”
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