A raffle for free coffee and concert tickets to see artist Saint Levant drew customers to Habibi\u2019s one-year anniversary celebration Saturday, drawing customers together at the Fullerton coffee shop for free chai, merchandise, live music and prizes.<\/p>\n
The celebration brought together employees, longtime customers and first-time visitors while highlighting the relationships that helped shape the business. For cafe owner Saad Shariff, reaching this milestone was a reflection of the support Habibi\u2019s has received from its community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked extremely hard to get here, and we wouldn’t be here without the help of our patrons, without the support of the city of Fullerton, the college, of course, and just everyone that’s been supporting us since day one,\u201d Shariff said.<\/p>\n
Shariff and his partners founded Habibi’s to introduce the area to Levant-inspired cafes, hoping to create a space centered around hospitality and Middle Eastern culture. The shop also gives back to the community by donating 10% of proceeds from certain fundraisers back to campus organizations.<\/p>\n
Running the business has also come with challenges, particularly rising food costs. Shariff said suppliers have increased their prices, forcing businesses to decide whether to raise their own prices or absorb the costs. Despite this, Habibi\u2019s has worked to keep its prices consistent while maintaining the quality of its food.<\/p>\n
For employees, Habibi\u2019s offers an opportunity to introduce customers to a culture they may not otherwise encounter. Hanzeh Qannous, a worker at Habibi\u2019s, said customers often ask about the origins and design of the cafe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just kind of opens people’s eyes more to outside cultures that are from across the world, say, Middle Eastern cultures,\u201d Qannous said. \u201cThere\u2019s olive trees, people ask what the olive oil is for, it’s kind of what the Middle East is known for, everyone likes olive oil.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cafe and sandwich shop\u2019s welcoming atmosphere has also attracted regular customers. Heather Kayali, a frequent Habibi\u2019s customer, said her daughter enjoys coming to the cafe because of the friendly service.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey always make sure to approach and address everybody that walks in. They\u2019re so friendly, and I think that makes the business better,\u201d Kayali said.<\/p>\n
The anniversary celebration also brought in first-time visitors. Sophia Miller attended after she was invited by a friend and was immediately drawn to the cafe\u2019s appearance and menu.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe staff were really kind and friendly. I was happy to see so many people come support a local business,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI loved the aesthetic of the cafe and they have a lot of drink options.\u201d<\/p>\n
The celebration quickly filled the cafe. A line stretched halfway through the parking lot when the doors opened at 10 a.m, while patrons gathered on the patio beneath the canopy to enjoy live music. Inside, visitors drank chai, enjoyed the air conditioning and greeted the cafe\u2019s owners.<\/p>\n
For Shariff, one of the most notable signs of Habibi\u2019s growth has been its relationship with Cal State Fullerton students.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the coolest things to see is actual students come here every day or every other day,\u201d Shariff said. \u201cThat’s the biggest compliment for a business.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Shariff hopes to bring Habibi\u2019s directly onto the CSUF campus. The business is now an approved campus vendor and hopes to eventually become a permanent brick-and-mortar location at the university.<\/p>\n
For now, the anniversary celebration gave customers and employees an opportunity to recognize the cafe\u2019s growth and the community behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t be shy, give us a try,\u201d Sharif said. \u201cYou’ll fall in love at first sight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A raffle for free coffee and concert tickets to see artist Saint Levant drew customers to Habibi\u2019s one-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,9376,30906,45964,177748,177749],"class_list":["post-449101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-anniversary","tag-coffee-shop","tag-giveaways","tag-habibis","tag-local-cafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}