We recently connected with Mohammed Al-Wadei and have shared our conversation below.

Mohammed, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

We have few missions we want to achieve at Aldar Cafe.

1. Coffee is the most consumed drink in the world and Americans are the most to consume it. It is only befitting the finest cup of coffee to be served her in the States and there is nothing better than Yemeni Coffee. Yemen historically was the first country to brew coffee and has been till today. Hundreds of years of coffee brewing experience served in a cup can only exceed any expectation anyone could have. The only thing anyone could do is really appreciate the history behind it.

2. Yemeni Coffee and culture is typically unknown or under represented in the western hemisphere. As such, it’s our mission to share that culture and coffee as much as we can.

3. The last mission we have is to import as many coffee beans from Yemen as possible. This is to help the Yemeni farmers and other people in the supply chain to have an opportunity to live an alternative life than the life they currently have full of turmoil and struggle.

Mohammed, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

During our childhood, we were able to see our grandmother grow coffee trees and process the coffee cherry from sun drying the cherries to drinking the coffee. Being so close to the production of coffee gave us an appreciation of the coffee we drink. In 2021 our Grandmother passed away and we wanted to carry and continue her legacy by sharing that same coffee we drink to the people of this community.

In early 2022, we started planning our business model and in 2023 we executed that plan. Finally, in January 6, 2024 we were able to open our doors to public. The coffee we serve is extremely special and you will not be able to find it in any coffee shop here in the Memphis metropolitan area. It’s not special because it’s our grandmother’s legacy but rather her legacy and every generation before her till the first time coffee was grown and brewed in Yemen 600 plus years ago.

The coffee we server is not like any coffee you have tasted, it’s low in bitterness and acidity. We have what is technically the original Mocha Latte. Yemeni Coffee was exported out of a port city in Yemen named Mocha and Yemeni people at that time were drinking coffee with milk that taste like chocolate. However, the flavor of chocolate doesn’t come from the chocolate syrup rather it’s the natural flavor of the Yemeni coffee beens produced in Yemen. We serve this drink at Aldar Cafe and we call it “Yemeni Latte.”

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

We hold these private and public coffee testing courses at Aldar Cafe. This gives us the opportunity to achieve our mission of sharing the history of coffee, explain the different coffee we serve, showcase how the coffee is brewed, and most importantly have our customers taste the coffee. This has been our best marketing tool as it helps the customer who is hesitant to experience new things to come and try multiple coffees, and so far customers leave satisfied they and tend to promote our business through word of mouth to their family and friends, and business reviews in Yelp and Google. This unique experience of Coffee Tasting along with the unique Coffee we serve as of now cannot be found anywhere except at Aldar Cafe.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Early in the year we noticed we were not able to retain customers to return. The business model we had in place was to most overwhelming with the many different coffee options that they were not used to and never heard of. I didn’t know what to do I did the traditional marketing plan of building a social media page and pay for ads which helped bring in customers but they rarely returned. With it being our first business we didn’t really know how to proceed further. Few months later, we were blessed to meet Bob Whittsitt and Warren Johnson who have marketing background. They helped us with our marketing strategy and developed the Coffee Tasting courses we hold today at Aldar Cafe. Building the bridge between us and our customer base really helped the business to hold it’s place in the community and to grow.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aldarcafe901/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554805378400
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/aldar-cafe-memphis-2