Halal BBQ in Irving turns a $450,000 leap

Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi left a $450,000-a-year tech career to open Kafi BBQ in Irving, Texas—after people kept telling him they couldn’t find halal barbecue without pork cross-contamination. The restaurant opened in December 2024, sold through prepared barbecue

When Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi walked away from tech, the pay cut was immediate—and so was the uncertainty.

At the peak of his career, he was earning $450,000 a year. After 14 years working in tech at companies including Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Shopify, and Cruise, he says he grew disillusioned. To him, the work increasingly felt focused on making money rather than improving people’s lives or helping businesses.

At 33. he left San Francisco for a job at a religious nonprofit in Texas. taking a pay cut of more than 50%. But the move didn’t end his relationship with food. While working at the nonprofit, he kept hosting dinner parties and cooking barbecue for friends. He started making halal briskets, and repeatedly, he says, people told him they couldn’t find anything like it.

Many of those friends also said they avoided traditional barbecue restaurants because pork cross-contamination is common, even when beef is on the menu. That’s when he began asking a tougher question: whether there was room for Texas barbecue without pork—and without the risk that came with it.

Kafi BBQ opened in December 2024 in Irving, Texas. Abdul-Kafi says they prepared enough barbecue to last three days, but sold through everything on the first day. They started cooking again that same night.

The restaurant’s early momentum didn’t fade. In Dallas-Fort Worth, D Magazine named Kafi BBQ one of the top 12 barbecue restaurants, while Eater named it one of the 15 best new restaurants in America.

In its first year, Kafi BBQ made over $2 million. Last year, it generated just under $2.3 million in revenue, and Abdul-Kafi said the business is projected to reach up to $4 million this year.

Yet the financial glow is complicated by what he hasn’t taken out.

“Barbecue is an expensive business,” he said, and his monthly numbers show why. Food costs run about $125,000 a month. Labor costs are about $50,000 a month. Rent is about $15,000, and utilities, marketing, spices, and disposables add thousands more. In total, the restaurant spends roughly $215,000 every month just to maintain.

He said the business is profitable in the sense that it’s turning a monthly profit—but not in the sense that it has allowed him to pay off the restaurant’s initial investment of about $1 million. Since opening, he said he still hasn’t paid himself a single dollar, living instead off his savings.

The hours also changed. Abdul-Kafi said he now works about 70 to 80 hours a week. more than he did in tech. but he describes the work as far more rewarding. In tech. he says he worked closely with his engineering teams. designers. and other product managers. though his circle was relatively small. At the restaurant, he’s constantly meeting new people from different communities.

That mix shows up at the tables. Abdul-Kafi said about half of Kafi BBQ’s customers follow a halal diet and half don’t. Because the restaurant doesn’t serve pork and guarantees there is no pork cross-contamination. he says it draws people who often feel excluded from traditional barbecue restaurants. At the same time. he said the restaurant gets customers who are curious about the recipes and flavors Kafi BBQ is developing.

One of his most rewarding moments, he said, is walking from table to table, talking with guests and hearing feedback when they enjoy the food.

Even his process, he argues, carries over from tech.

Before signing a lease. Abdul-Kafi spent months testing demand by selling brisket from his house. running events. and gathering data. aiming to reduce uncertainty before making a major investment. He says he became meticulous about tracking numbers—working with meat suppliers before opening so he could understand costs. He measured how much a brisket weighed when he bought it. how much it weighed after trimming and smoking. and how much he could ultimately sell.

After opening, he kept that discipline. He said he has a spreadsheet containing all of the restaurant’s recipes. with every ingredient measured down to the gram. He wants the recipes precise and repeatable. whether it’s a side dish. a dessert. or a barbecue rub—down to the exact amount of each ingredient.

He also described menu creation like product development. Every month, he develops new sausages, desserts, and specials. When he launches something new, he doesn’t assume it’s right immediately. Instead, he walks around the dining room and asks customers what they think, then makes changes based on their feedback.

Abdul-Kafi pointed to one example: the pomegranate beef belly burnt ends. He said he changed that recipe seven different times before arriving at the current version.

For him, the shift isn’t as dramatic as outsiders assume. In his view, barbecue isn’t as different from tech as people might think. He’s still experimenting, solving problems, and trying to improve a product—just with briskets, rubs, and feedback instead of engineering teams.

Kafi BBQ is located in Irving, Texas, and serves a range of halal meat, including Dino Ribs, Texas Twinkies, and sausages. Abdul-Kafi said he uses an MM2000 smoker to make the meat.

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