INDIANAPOLIS — People living in the Indy metro area have enjoyed easy access to delicious specialties like cardamom iced teas, honey lavender lattes or baklava available at any of the several MOTW Coffee & Pastries around town for more than two years.
Now, MOTW Coffee & Pastries could very well be a household name across the country, as the Indy-based company moves to establish 30-40 new coffee houses in cities like Chicago, New York City and Boston over the next five years.
“We’re in the process of franchising a couple of different shops, it’s very exciting,” owner Sajjad Shah said.
Few coffee shops can boast the unique, rapid rise of MOTW Coffee & Pastries, a powerhouse in the Indianapolis coffee scene that first began as an offshoot of the successful online project MOTW, or Muslims of the World.
The Instagram account that launched in 2014 blossomed to more than 700,000 followers and secured a book deal for "Muslims of the World: Portraits and Stories of Hope, Survival, Loss and Love." MOTW then became a nonprofit that Shah says raised about $20 million for humanitarian causes.
"The idea was to share these stories of Muslim people, and it wasn't to show stories about religion. It was more so stories about just regular, day-to-day Muslims," Shah said. "I felt that it was really important, that people need to understand others a little bit better."
The idea to turn an online community into a physical one belongs to Shah’s business partner and wife, Fatimah Shah, who was already skilled in making a popular Yemeni chai recipe they believed could sell.
“My wife and I said it’s awesome that we have this huge social media presence, but we have no physical presence,” Shah said. “We wanted to change that.”
Fatimah's Yemeni chai soon became one of MOTW Coffee's most popular drinks by the time they opened their first location at the International Marketplace District in June 2021. Locations in Carmel, Fishers and Castleton followed.
“What differentiates us from other coffee shops is the customer service. That is, the people. And not to say that other coffee shops don't have great people, but that's what we put on par with the quality of the coffee," Shah said.
And they wanted their coffee shops to have the same message as the successful MOTW project: to highlight the beauty of Muslim cultures around the world while creating a space where everyone feels included.
"What I really wanted to do was to make people understand and be aware of the faith, and make people look at Muslims in a different way," Shah said.
Shah graduated from Hamilton Southeastern, and while he says he had a fine experience as one of few Muslim kids at the school, he did see and experience some instances of racism he wanted to change for future generations.
"For me being a Muslim, my faith was obviously an important part of who I am. I really wanted to make people understand and be aware of the faith and make people look at Muslims in a different way," Shah said. "We're really creating an environment where it's inclusive. And we're really creating, kind of like, this melting pot."
The Chicago coffee house will be MOTW’s first out-of-state location. The chain tapped former Hoosier artist Jules Muck, who is also called @muckrock, to design murals for the space. Shah said the artist flew into Chicago from Venice Beach and completed the painting in four hours before flying out to Miami.
Even as Shah and others work to put the finishing touches on the location in Lombard, Illinois, the community is already showing interest in the space and Muckrock's murals.
"We have people now stopping their cars and parking. I mean, our shop is not open yet, but they're already like, lining up out our door and taking photos," Shah said.
It's not lost on Shah that the continued success of this local storytelling platform turned coffee house is coming at a time of immense global pain, as the Israel-Hamas war continues claiming the lives of thousands of Palestinian civilians. At least 18,412 people have been killed, and 50,000 people have been injured in Gaza so far, according to the latest reports from Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly voted by a large majority —153 in favor and 10 against — for a humanitarian ceasefire, with Assembly President Dennis Francis stressing, “We have one singular priority – only one – to save lives."
Shah said MOTW Coffee has felt and seen support from the community during this time.
"An innocent life that's lost is an injustice no matter what the faith is. But, you know what's happening right now. It's injustice. And it's a genocide, and we should call it what it is. And I think that people are calling it what it is," Shah said.
The Chicago coffeehouse is slated to open either end of year 2023 or in January 2024.