This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hady Kfoury, the founder and CEO of Naya, a Middle Eastern-inspired food chain. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I created Naya to share the authentic Middle Eastern flavors I grew up with, in a modern and fast-casual way. Today, we have 43 locations. We’re adding 12 more this year, and 25 next year. Our goal is to reach 200 locations by 2030.
It takes a lot of work and it’s a competitive environment.
I’m very proud that I’m a CEO and still so hands-on. I work a lot — and I’m not saying this is a healthy lifestyle.
I wake up around 6 a.m.
I try to have a peaceful hour before the rest of my family wakes up. Recently, I’ve been exercising in the morning because I find it difficult to do it after work, especially if I get home late. So I try to work out between 6:20 and 6:50.
I call my mom at 6:50 a.m. every morning
I call my mom usually every day at 6:50 a.m. We speak for about five to 10 minutes.
My mom is an unbelievable cook and she hosted a lot growing up. She would have 20 to 100 people over for dinner and cook everything from scratch, with flower arrangements and everything. She’s a great resource when it comes to understanding the food trends in Lebanon.
I don’t eat breakfast during the week
Monday through Friday, I drink tons of coffee but no breakfast. On weekends I eat a heavy breakfast. I don’t know why, but that’s how my body works.
I wake up my kids and my wife prepares breakfast for them. Then we leave home by 7:50 a.m. and walk to school. My children go to a French International school. Lebanon was a French colony for many years and it was my first language. So I wanted to pass that down to my kids.
I refuse to have an assistant
Our office is next to Grand Central and I head there after dropping my kids off around 8:15 a.m.
I refuse to have an assistant and I schedule everything myself. I’m very into routines and habit. I don’t want to have to talk to someone right after I finish a call. I’d rather take a half-hour break and tackle my emails first. It would be very hard to have someone schedule my day and not know what I really need between meetings.
I go to Naya every day
We’re surrounded by roughly eight or nine restaurants within a few minutes walking distance. So I go to one every day.
I switch up a lot, but my go-to order is a chicken kebab with a lot of tahini. 70% of our sales go to chicken shawarma. So I try to have that as well, to confirm consistency.
I try and be as incognito as possible. If I go during a lunch rush, I avoid talking to the team and just evaluate the experience. The quality of the food is extremely important.
Sometimes on my way to work, I’ll go into a restaurant before opening. I try to make it feel like I’m a partner — not the boss — and everything is business as usual. I ask workers if anything is bothering them, how things are moving, and then I do some spot checks on food quality and cleanliness.
I have a lot of calls to import ingredients
I don’t want to turn Naya into an import-export business but I’d love to get 20 to 30% of our products to come straight from Lebanon. We need to be authentic and true to our toots.
It takes a lot of coordination because there’s a seven-hour timezone difference. Lebanon also operates differently and that’s another challenge. Samples can take time, especially when it’s a refrigerted product, so it’s a lot of communication.
The tariffs add another layer of complications. I’ve been trying to negotiate and split the difference between us and our manufacturers. It hasn’t been so bad for Lebanon so far, but the uncertainty stresses us.
I have dinner with my aunt once a week
Similar to my mom, my aunt is an unbelievable cook. We have dinner together once a week at her place and she cooks a little bit of everything, but with a big focus on Lebanese food. It’s very hard to take her recipes and scale it commercially, but she’s an unbelievable person to go for new ideas.
I work 14- to 16-hour days
I try to get home by 7:30 p.m. It’s important for me to have dinner with the kids. I try to limit myself to two to three business dinners or events per week. When I have those, I go straight from the office to dinner and then I’m back home by around 10 p.m.
I’m constantly working. I check my emails on the subway and while I’m walking on the streets of New York. Even when I watch TV, I try to shift to something industry-related, either from an entrepreneurial perspective or cooking.
Right now, we’re emerging and there’s so much going on, that I think my presence is very important. So it’s an easy 14- to 16-hours a day.
I used to get copies of every review
I can’t sleep well knowing that I have so many unread emails. For almost 17 years, I would get a copy of every customer review from Yelp, Google, or customer support.
About three months ago, I handed it over to someone that I trust who has a great grip on the customer experience. Now she sends me weekly reports on how things are going and I reduced my email intake by at least 150 emails per day.
Sometimes I would get emails with a complaint and even if it was 11 p.m., I would email the general manager and ask what went wrong. I learned I should not do that because it stresses out the team and it’s not healthy.
I spend my summer weekends in Connecticut
I try to disconnect as much as possible on the weekends, but I still have to spend four or five hours catching up. I love to work a bit on Sunday just to get ready for Monday before it gets crazy.
I spend my summer weekends in a town called Litchfield, Connecticut. We’re part of a community that has tennis courts. I play four or five hours on Sunday. It’s a lot of socializing and fun.
I play chess before bed
I was told to stop playing chess before bed and give myself an hour break. I’m hooked on Chess.com, where you can play with real people. It’s a great way to end my day.
I try to read half an hour before bed and completely disconnect. I love reading, but I don’t do more than five to 10 pages a night.
I go to bed around 11:30 p.m. My sleep score varies, but it never goes above 80. I’m trying to get better at that. I try to avoid wine at night. When I don’t drink and I disconnect from screens an hour or two before bed, I sleep much better.
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