Al-Hamawi Roastery and Coffee opens first Wisconsin location with flair and fare

Photos by Cherrie Hanson

A place to meet friends, work, purchase high quality imported chocolates, olive oil, spices and coffee, Al-Hamawi opens on Layton Avenue in Milwaukee.

Al-Hamawi Roastery and Coffee is an elegant store where you can purchase a dizzying array of imported products and order from a menu of 140 drinks. But what owner Mahmoud Suleiman wants his new store to be known for is community.

“What I sincerely want to highlight is the social gathering of people of all ages. I want people to sit at the table and actually conversate—with no cell phones. I enjoy bringing together different communities, sitting with people, getting to know people and having them get a taste of our culture,” said Suleiman.

In its first Wisconsin location, the family-friendly café, tucked into a multi-tenant building at 1010 W. Layton Avenue, is open 7 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. Al-Hamawi joins other Milwaukee Arab style cafes including Azal Coffee, Haraz Coffee House and Al Wadi Coffee House that have become part of a popular nationwide trend. One big draw is late-night hours in an alcohol-free space.

“After 9 o’clock at night, if you want to go out and have fun, you want to go out and relax somewhere, you’re either going to go to a bar where there’s music banging and there’s too much going on. This place, it’s different races, different ages coming together and it’s a place where you can be after dark and enjoy yourself without drinking,” Suleiman said.

Al-Hamawi owner Mahmoud Suleiman sharing his business ethos and mission with new customers.

Welcoming, sophisticated space

The Layton Avenue Al-Hamawi Roastery and Coffee store is clean, bright and finely appointed with almost every design and décor element sourced from overseas. Upon entering, customers are warmly greeted by at least one staff member. Next, they are likely to be drawn in by a massive display case with a sweet and savory selection of nuts, seeds, snack mixes and dried fruits. The shelves are also filled with baked goods, like homemade baklava, herbs, spices, seasonings and condiments, coffee, chocolates and candies, canned and packaged food, organic olive oil, olives and stuffed grape leaves. In fact, the store features more than 250 products.

The back wall contains bins with 75 different chocolates and candies, individually handmade in Jordan and shipped in fresh each week by air. Customers can fill small metal baskets with an assortment of the elegantly wrapped chocolates that look like small gifts. The chocolates are sold by weight.

Marvin Hussain (left) visiting his sister Nishat in Milwaukee bring their laptops to Al-Hamawi to catch up on work and enjoy the atmosphere.

The drink counter offers hot and cold choices ranging from all the popular coffee shop standards such as cappuccinos, cortados and lattes, to specialty espresso drinks, karak chai, Turkish coffee, several flavors of matcha, beverages caffeinated and non-caffeinated refreshers, frappes, sodas, teas and more. It also features a display case of tempting bakery with assorted cakes, cake pops, rice krispie treats and other sweets.

Everything, Suleiman said, is about offering high-quality authentic Levantine heritage food.

“We want to bring the best-tasting and highest quality—from products to packaging to display. The most important thing is taste,” he said.

By 5:30 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, the roastery and café was busy and most tables were filled with families, couples, groups of friends and people sitting solo working on laptops. Suleiman said the pace picks up even more at night.

“It really gets crowded later, like around 10 p.m., we’re at full capacity,” he said. The café also added an outdoor seating area with umbrella tables.

A friendly staff creates a gathering place for family and community where everyone feels welcome.

Investing in a business he loves

Suleiman, whose business background is his family’s second-generation retail furniture business in the Chicagoland area, became interested in the Al-Hamawi as a loyal customer.

“I liked the business and then I loved the business. I would visit at least three times a week. And then, I inquired about opening a store, which wasn’t their goal to be a franchise, but it’s something I kind of pushed them to do,” Suleiman said.

Al-Hamawi, which has roots in Jordan dating back to 1942, has two roastery and café locations in suburban Chicago as well as a campus-specific store at a suburban Chicago community college where students and staff can grab their favorite drink. In the future, Suleiman hopes to open a second location in Milwaukee with drive-through service, ideally near a college, university or hospital that would provide a steady stream of grab-and-go orders. He is opening another Al-Hamawi store in Dearborn, Michigan, later this year.

S’mores and more fill the cake, mousse and cookie case at Al-Hamawi.

Committed to community

While it offers all the popular café beverages, Suleiman points out that Al-Hamawi is much more than a coffee shop.

“The whole point of Al-Hamawi is – it’s not just the coffee and the roastery. It’s gathering families and community members to sit, to be in a nice, safe spot. In fact, our coffee shop was the last thing we added to our menu, and we did so well with it, but our main products are the groceries, the chocolates, the jars, the dried fruits,” Suleiman said.

He also wants to be a business member that is engaged in the community and supports local charities and nonprofits.

“This is a community business and it’s a community-welcoming atmosphere. I personally believe that any business that works in a community should definitely give back to the community. That’s how it should work, and that’s something I strongly believe in. It’s not about one person gaining, it’s about everybody gaining. Without our customers, we wouldn’t be in business. Without our neighbors, we wouldn’t be in business. Without the city, we wouldn’t be in business. That’s what community is all about,” said Suleiman.

Suleiman said most customers found out about the roastery and café via word-of-mouth recommendations while many were already familiar with the stores in the Chicago area. Al Hamawi had a soft opening at the beginning of June and has enjoyed brisk business right from the start. Suleiman said a grand opening is being planned in the coming months.

“We wanted to do a full 60-day opening before we have our grand opening. We’d like to get some community members involved, get the mayor involved and folks from around town,” Suleiman said.