Profit, people and passion for good food

The Canadian restaurant franchise Tahini’s serves Middle East-inspired food with a Bitcoin-inspired twist. 

Since August 2020, when the price of Bitcoin (BTC) was under $20,000, the group has operated on a Bitcoin standard, with any profits it makes swept into BTC.

The Tahini’s Twitter account has since argued that Bitcoin is the “most Islamic” thing Muslims can do with their wealth, and the group educates its customers on sound money. It has even become a niche bear market meme, with Michael Saylor famously saying he might apply to work night shifts at Tahini’s during January’s price correction:

May apply for night shift at @TheRealTahinis to stack more sats. #NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/ZrirLojvrq

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) January 23, 2022

Cointelegraph spoke with Ali Hamam, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Tahini’s, to understand the whys, hows and unintended consequences of operating under a Bitcoin standard. Hamam was the driving force of the Bitcoin adoption in the Middle Eastern chain.

Hamam first learned of Bitcoin in 2016 or 2017 but discarded the innovation as a Ponzi scheme, or “rat poison,” as he was dissuaded by its negative press. It took the COVID-19 pandemic and its real-world consequences for Hamam’s Bitcoin lightbulb moment to take place.

“In March of 2020, we got hit with the lockdowns and the fear. Our sales at the restaurants dropped like 70% in a week. And yet, there was more money flowing around with our employees, our fellow Canadians. Everybody just had more money.”

Inspired by the writings of Robert Breedlove — a Bitcoin influencer and entrepreneur — sound money in the form of BTC dawned on him. Hamam said that he and his company needed to find a better way to store value. “Money is going to be worthless,” he said.

“It sort of clicked for me that this is a once-in-a-multigeneration type of breakthrough and…