Located near the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Western Boulevard, MunchIt Cafe offers a variety of delicious drinks and snacks with hopes to build a close-knit community.
Originally an idea for a food cart offering crazy hotdogs and sides, MunchIt took a different direction after experiencing licensing issues with the type of food that could be offered from a cart.
“MunchIt was supposed to be a hotdog cart,” co-founder Hamza “Henry” Howari said. “But my whole point of opening the business was to be able to give these products to our customers to give them joy.”
Already experienced with cafes, Howari, along with previous co-worker and friend Ali Aydi, turned to coffee as a way to give their customers joy through another product. Keeping with the cart idea, the two fashioned a small coffee shop on a trailer and MunchIt Cafe was born.
“We started doing festivals and private events,” Aydi said. “Then we started seeing people loving it. [They loved] our drinks, loved the mixes, loved the new drinks.”
Gaining traction, MunchIt eventually parked its cart outside Alnoor Market, located at 5619 Hillsborough St., offering customers a more consistent location and hours.
“We put it [there] for three months,” Howari said. “[We] had a lot of people. The amount of orders that we were getting were beyond what the cart can do.”
Even with long waits due to the cart’s small capacity, customers kept coming for delicious menu items including flavored lattes, Red Bull mixes and other drinks. Still concerned with the customer experience, MunchIt realized they needed to keep growing.
“[Customers] were waiting; they didn’t care,” Howari said. “They were waiting 15 minutes, they were waiting 10 minutes, I just didn’t want that. I didn’t want people to come here and have to wait to sip a coffee and then enjoy [it]. I want them to be able to come in and just sit and enjoy it.”
After looking at different locations on Hillsborough Street, MunchIt decided to expand right where it was and move inside Alnoor Market. Recently completing renovations in a corner of the existing grocery store, MunchIt reopened their cafe Sept. 14, offering a more homey space with increased capacity.
“I want a family-friendly environment,” Howari said. “I want people to come and sit here for hours. The whole foundation of the business when I built it was for the community.”
In fact, it was a place like this that brought the founders together and provided the inspiration for MunchIt.
“I would go straight to [my old] cafe and drink my coffee with the community,” Howari said. “We were all friends and I’m still friends with half of them now. My partner now is one of the customers that was coming to [the cafe]. So that’s what I wanted, that’s why I made MunchIt.”
With a majority of their products sourced from other small businesses, MunchIt also hopes to support its community beyond serving customers.
“All our pastries are from small businesses; our coffee beans come from a small business roastery,” Howari said. “I always aim to support small businesses [and] always aim for quality in everything… I know it’s a little bit more pricey, but that money will go toward somebody and will motivate them to continue doing their job.”
With reasonably priced menu items, MunchIt tries to ensure customers do not take up this expense either.
“I don’t care if I’m taking a loss or taking less profit. I don’t care. I mean, this business is to build that community,” Howari said.
Aside from regular operations, MunchIt hopes to start offering events such as movie nights or giveaways sponsored by customer donations. Up-to-date information about these events and more can be found on their Instagram page.
Started earlier this year as a small, one-person coffee trailer, MunchIt seems well on its way to growing a close-knit community around quality coffee and snacks. Next time you find yourself heading west on Western Boulevard or Hillsborough Street, consider popping in for a tasty treat and see how the community is growing.
