Homewood’s newest Yemeni coffee shop officially opened up this month, inviting customers to discover new ways of sharing community. The viral Bayt Al Qawah is consistently packed, and their vast assortment of pastries and drinks bring together diverse groups over shared flavors.
UAB students Amr Al Amari and Asmaa Antar serve as store managers of Bayt Al Qawah. Their purpose of opening Bayt Al Qawah is to share Middle Eastern culture, while fostering a sense of belonging for those in the diaspora.
“Its supposed to bring culture and awareness of other people’s education, and things from back home,” Antar said. “[Immigrants] want to bring things over here where they can feel home in our culture…we wanted the feeling of home near us.”
The Arabic phrase “Bayt Al Qawah” translates to the House of Coffee. Middle Eastern culture emphasizes the importance of unconditional hospitality.
“The whole thing behind House of Coffee is hospitality and we want you to feel welcome,” Antar said. “A house is where everyone is welcome to it, so everyone is welcome to join.”
Customers typically socialize or study, with some staying from noon to night. It prides itself as a conducive place to host late night study groups for local high school and college students.
All of the ingredients made at Bayt Al Qawah was imported from the Middle East, making it a spot for one-of-a-kind regional specialties like baklava, knafeh, mousse cake and spinach or meat pies.
The coffeehouse achieves reach even outside of Homewood borders with the help of social media advertising their viral fruit entremet offerings.
“We get a bunch of people where they drove two hours just to try us,” Antar said. “They call us to make sure we have what they are looking for.”
Bayt Al Qawah is the only coffee shop in Homewood open until 10pm, making it a primary late night coffee and pastry place resort.
Mohamed explains what Bayt Al Qawah brings to the community.
“It’s an insight to Middle Eastern culture because in Homewood you don’t find a lot of cafes like that,” Mohamed said.
Bayt Al Qawah is a family business running on a large support system. The Amaris family has an experienced background in hospitality as they have previously owned steak houses and delis.
“My dad…has his construction team, and has dealt with opening businesses, dealing with city permits which gives us a big bonus of speeding up the process,” Amari said. “I feel like everyone was very supportive in the beginning. We came from a background of construction, so opening and building it wasn’t a problem. We built it from scratch.”
Despite their foundation, Amari and Antar explain the challenge felt before opening Bayt Al Qawah.
“Every business owner has doubts in the beginning of opening it; you don’t really know what you’re walking into,” Amari said.
“And how they will accept it, and you don’t know if they will accept the cultural difference,” Antar added.
Antar and Amari strive for customer service excellence through their staff behind the scenes in the kitchen.
“We have a really good foundation team, everybody works together and gets along, and we all try to stay on top of things,” Antar said. “We take what we need to work on seriously, and everybody is more than welcome to hear back what they should work on and what they’re good at.”
