Dalia Jaffal on building Kalei one bag at a time
Kalei Coffee opened in Mar Mikhael in 2017 in a former tile factory and has since become the city's most-cited specialty café. We spoke with founder Dalia Jaffal about decade two.
Q: You opened the year before everything fell apart. How did Kalei survive?
A: We didn't want to. For about six months in 2020 we were closed and I genuinely thought it was over. But the team came back, the customers came back, and we got smaller and stricter. Less menu, more focus.
Q: People come to Mar Mikhael now because of places like yours. Do you feel responsible for that?
A: Yes. We try to hire from the neighborhood, source from the neighborhood, and not raise rents next door. It's imperfect.