For Mohamed Khirallah, the perfect cup of coffee comes down to freshness.
“You should roast and grind the coffee as soon as you are about to brew it,” he says.
Coffee beans don’t necessarily expire, but use a batch that’s not fresh and you’ll get a sub-par cup.
Khirallah should know. He was first introduced to coffee before he was even in school, as an aide to help his speech progression.
“When I was a little kid, I was having trouble with speech problems. So, they used to give me a sip of coffee to stimulate the brain or to give a push on my brain to work and function,” he laughs. “People always told me ‘you are too much talkative,’ I said, ‘yes, because I have been drinking coffee since I was three.’”
Khirallah was born in Egypt and lived in Dubai for 15 years before moving to Canada. He comes from a family who has worked in the coffee business for almost 70 years.
He’s part of the third generation of his family to do the same – and is the founder and owner of New Brunswick’s Rôticana Coffee Company Inc.
Khirallah has been selling his coffee wholesale from his Hodgson Road site in Fredericton for the last four years. But, last week, he opened Rôticana’s first physical location.
He calls the expansion “a huge exposure” for his brand and for the coffee, while pointing to the shift in mindset needed to blend wholesale with retail.
Khirallah used to sell to convenience stores and restaurants and coffee shops that used his beans. But he says he realized “the loyalty of the clients are always to the place where they got their coffee from.”
Location, Location, Location
Rôticana’s new Saint John location sits on a familiar coffee battleground: the Market Square space that once housed Tim Horton’s.
After he opened Rôticana late last week, Khirallah says the first few days provided a steady stream of customers, with the attention growing well past the line-up.
After roughly four years in business, Khirallah says he’s amassed about 2,000 followers on social media. But two days after he opened the café he had gained at least 500 more.
He says that kind of exposure to the clientele, and potential future clients, is also completely different.
“From a profit margin and business point of view, it’s always good for the business to have retail to sell your product or to sell mainly the coffee as a drink,” he says. “I like [selling] brewed coffee to the clients because the highest profit margin comes from selling the coffee as a drink and not as roasted beans.”
Mohamed Khirallah is the founder and general manager of Rôticana Coffee Company. Image: submitted.
While Rôticana Coffee was making a name for itself as an emerging coffee wholesaler in Fredericton, Khirallah was looking for the right place to open café number one.
He says he looked in Fredericton and Moncton before choosing Saint John.
“I was lucky when I was in Saint John searching and looking for a place,” he says. “I found this decent location in a good spot. Despite Covid and the circumstances we are in now, Market Square is a very unique and good spot in Saint John and it is a very touristic place… So, it’s going to be what I consider a premium location.”
While many locals were used to having a large coffee chain operating in the Square, Khirallah is happy to offer something different.
“This is good for the locals and also for the tourists. I am offering Turkish coffee and Middle Eastern coffee. I don’t have a competition in this market. So, I am the only one offering it,” says Khirallah.
He also offers tropical juices that many will likely taste at Rôticana for the first time, along with free offerings of baklava and other Turkish delights.
Helping Immigrants Network In Business
It’s been a whirlwind month for Khirallah, who also became a full Canadian citizen this winter.
Along the way, he helped found the New Brunswick Business Immigrants Association in 2018. In 2020 he spoke to Huddle, not long after the beginning of the pandemic, about some of the challenges immigrant-owned businesses faced.
Khirallah could have settled anywhere in Canada but says his goal is helping ensure immigrants to New Brunswick stay here.
“I want to retain here in the province. I want to retain my kids. I want them to retain and stay in the province,” he says.
He’s noticed the difficulty keeping skilled workers in the region and often sees immigrants come to New Brunswick only to leave because of some challenges he feels can’t be changed, like weather or geography.
Still, he believes there’s more the province actually can change to help attract a skilled and diverse workforce to the province.
“It’s very important for me, for my family, for everyone, to help with retention rate to help with immigrants and the immigration process,” says Khirallah. “Yes, I am an immigrant myself. I don’t believe in immigration just because I am an immigrant, but I believe in immigration now because I am in business.”
Expanding during the pandemic, Khirallah faces a lot of workforce challenges. He’s canvassing for workers to help staff his new location and to further expand his business.
“My major challenge now is the workforce: not the money, not the machines, not the equipment, not the supplies… I am looking forward and, not only me, but a lot of people are facing the same. So, we need the workforce, we need people.”
Tyler Mclean is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
