44-year-old left his tech job and started a halal burger joint
Shahezad Contractor’s initial goal when starting his halal burger business was simple: “I wanted more halal options.”
Now with eight locations in the Northeast, it has even bigger dreams. My Cousin’s BurgerThe halal restaurant chain he founded in 2024.
“Our goal is to be the next In and Out or the next Shake Shack,” Contractor told CNBC Make It.
Contractor, 44, is the founder and CEO of Cousin’s Food Inc., a Philadelphia-based halal restaurant group. In addition to Cousin’s Burger, Contractor also owns Cousin’s Pizza, a halal pizza shop, and Cousin’s Smokehouse and Burgers, a halal barbecue restaurant.
His restaurants collectively generated 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 a Muslim to benefit from halal,” says the contractor: Many people prefer halal meat due to its “high quality and cleanliness” as well as its more humane treatment of animals.
Aside from the Halal Guys restaurant franchise, there are relatively few mainstream American halal food options in the U.S., Contractor says.
He hopes to change that.
How did it start?
Growing up on Long Island, Undertaker got into the restaurant business almost by accident, he says. Technology was his first passion: After earning a degree in management information systems from SUNY Old Westbury, he spent 24 years working in IT.
The turning point came when his friend Tabish Hoda asked Contractor to attend the halal food festival in 2023. Contractor, who had no formal culinary training but often cooked for family and friends, decided to make smashburgers; He says it’s “the easiest thing I could do.”
Hoping he would have leftover meat, he bought enough meat to feed about 500 customers. Instead, the Undertaker sold out all tickets by 6pm that day. “That’s when I realized there was great potential in serving American-style halal food,” he says.
The contractor began exploring the idea of opening his own restaurant in Philadelphia, which he saw as the “perfect place” to start a halal business. significant Muslim populationhe says.
First Cousin’s Burger location.
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He partnered with restaurant owner Rizwan Ahmed, whom he met at the halal festival, to transform one of Ahmed’s existing restaurants into the first Cousin’s Burger location in 2024.
From there the business grew rapidly. Cousin’s Burger currently has eight locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
recipe for success
Contractor attributes the popularity of his restaurants to three key features: 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 pricier than what you’ll find at your normal restaurant supplier, but the taste speaks for itself,” he says.
Contractor says the smashburger is “by far” the number one menu item at Cousin’s Burger, and they’ve got the recipe down to a science: A portion of USDA Prime Black Angus beef is shredded on a flat-top grill, seasoned with their signature spice blend, and then covered with white American cheese. Served on a buttery, lightly toasted potato roll and topped with pickles and Cousin’s Burger’s special house sauce.
A halal smashburger from Cousin’s Burger.
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He says a single smashburger usually costs $7 or $8; Due to differences in rent, the exact price depends on location.
The contractor says food costs are “all the way up” right now. “I’d love to be able to sell a $4 burger, but that’s simply impossible. The economics don’t make sense.” According to the contractor, Cousin’s Burger’s other main expenses are rent and labor.
Taking a “leap of faith” in a growing industry
These days, the Contractor is less involved in the day-to-day operations of the restaurants. His main responsibilities, he says, are marketing, meeting with partners and “continuing to grow the brand.”
Contractor, the sole breadwinner in his household that includes his wife and two daughters, says leaving his “very cushy” IT job and opening a restaurant felt like a big risk. He was also starting to worry that AI would affect his job security, so he decided to take a “leap of faith” and start his own business.
“Building something for yourself, something that could potentially create generational wealth,” he says, “really appealed to me.”
He says the contractor’s long-term goal is to make Cousin’s Burger a global brand. It hopes to open 50 locations in the next few years and expand to other countries, including Canada.
“I think the sky is the limit,” says the contractor. “We’ll keep going until someone tells us to stop or until they tell us we can’t do it anymore.”
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