Local coffeeshop chain planning aggressive U.S. expansion

The Carmel location of MOTW Coffee and Pastries at 12761 Old Meridian St. (Image courtesy of MOTW Coffee and Pastries)

After opening its fourth Indianapolis-area coffee shop in April, MOTW Coffee and Pastries is embarking on an aggressive growth strategy starting with a new location in the Chicagoland area.

Owner Sajjad Shah expects the Noblesville-based MOTW brand to have 40 to 50 coffee and pastry shops within five years in a combination of company-owned shops and franchised locations across the United States.

Shah revealed his plans in an interview for the IBJ Podcast that debuted online Monday. He also discussed growing up in Indianapolis and Fishers as a Muslim in majority-white communities.

Shah, 32, said he began looking for expansion opportunities in Chicago about a week before MOTW’s fourth shop, located at 12761 Old Meridian St. in Carmel, opened in April. MOTW now has a signed lease for a 3,000-square-foot space at 109 S. Main St. in downtown Lombard, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It’s expected to open within three or four months.

“I think the only way to really kind of grow like Starbucks grew or Dunkin grew is that whenever you open one location, you better have your next two locations in mind,” Shah said.

Shah, a former corporate accountant and consultant, self-funded the first four MOTW shops without any debt or investors. The Lombard shop also will be company-owned, but the company is working to clear hurdles to become eligible for selling franchises as well, Shah said.

MOTW’s strategy for growth entails opening four company-owned stores in new states, and then using name-brand recognition to attract franchisees for additional locations in the state.

“We found that four was a sweet spot for us in Indiana,” Shah said. “It created this synergy of all these shops starting to attract different customers.”

MOTW assembled its four Indy-area shops in relatively short order. The first shop opened in June 2021 at 4873 W. 38^th St. in the International Marketplace District. Its second opened at 8235 E. 116^th St. in Fishers, and the third is located at 6706 E. 82^nd St. in Castleton.

The first shop grew out of an Instagram account that Shah founded in 2014 titled Muslims of the World—or MOTW—that was inspired by the popular photoblog Humans of New York.

“At that time, I said, ‘You know, it’s amazing what this guy has been able to do, bringing people together with these intimate stories. If they’re able to do that with everyday stories of people from New York, we can easily do that with Muslims as well,’” Shah said.

Muslims of the World now has about 677,000 followers on Instagram. Shah has used it as a platform to help raise millions of dollars for not-for-profits that aid Muslims in need around the world.

He envisioned the coffee shops as another way to connect people with Muslim culture and develop positive associations with the Islamic faith.

“The vision that I had for this company was that we eventually would have people come in who are Jewish, maybe Catholic, maybe Christian, maybe Hindu—whatever it may be—and they’re going to come in here and they are going to have a great experience at a business that’s Muslim-owned,” Shah said. “And they’re going to walk out of here with positive connotations of the Muslim faith.”

MOTW Coffee and Pastries had a greater percentage of Muslim employees at the beginning, but they now only account for about 10% of the current 30-employee workforce. Similarly, the clientele has become so diverse that Muslims only account for about 5% of customers, Shah said.

The cost of launching each of the first four MOTW shops ran about $250,000 to $300,000, which Shaw funded in part through his former career in accounting and successful investments in startups that he worked for as a consultant, he said.

He expects MOTW to open more company-owned stores in Illinois. Asked about other expansion targets, Shah said he was looking seriously at the Atlanta area.

Franchisees likely will pay an upfront fee of $50,000 to $65,000, cover the costs of opening the shop and pay royalties equal to 5% of month sales, Shah said.