Pop-up Dining and Deciding to Build-to-Own with Chef Abdallah El Chami
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Food has always been a big part of Abdallah El Chami’s life, although until recently, it was a personal passion he only shared with friends and family. Today Dallah — as he likes to go by — runs The Dallah Menu, pop-up dining experiences that he promotes through a beautifully curated Instagram account and his broad personal network.
I cook with a Lebanese influence, photograph food, and develop recipes.
From Tech to Chef
Dallah’s journey into the culinary world wasn’t a typical one. He doesn’t have any formal chef training, nor does he have extensive experience in the restaurant industry. Far from it, in fact.
Prior to the Dallah menu, he was working deep in Vancouver’s tech world, holding marketing roles at companies like Hootsuite, Payfirma, and Control.
But while he was making his mark at reputable startups and becoming more well known in the city’s tech scene, he filled his down time with cooking, experimenting with new recipes, and entertaining friends.
It came to a point where I had to make a decision, so I made a pie chart of what mattered…
“I got to an intersection of working in tech and working in food on weekends and at night,” Dallah explains. “It came to a point where I had to make a decision, so I made a pie chart of what mattered.”
After weighing the merits of growing within an existing company, or taking a risk to invest in his own dream, his entrepreneurial hunger tipped the scale.
“Honestly, it was the point of view where you invest so much of your time to build someone else’s company,” he recalls. “I wanted to work on something I could develop, grow, and be passionate about.”
Growing from Friends, to Friends of Friends, to Strangers
It has been just over a year since Dallah’s first official pop up, and a little longer since he began to develop the brand through social media. While the first event attracted primarily friends, they have since expanded to attract friends of friends, and even complete strangers who hear about the ticketed pop-ups from the @thedallah on Instagram.
“I learned most of what I know from watching my mother cook when I was very young,” Dallah shares. “During the end of high school and into college, I did a lot of trial and error to learn my way around the kitchen.
“In recent years I’ve spent time with many chefs who teach as much as they can. Most importantly, I read a lot. There is a vast amount of literature available on technique, flavour, and various food practices.”
His story is one of those inspirational cases of someone creating their own path, and not accepting limiting beliefs around having certain credentials or years of experience to be considered an expert. Dallah had a ravenous appetite for creating in the kitchen and sharing that with friends, and once he realized people were willing to pay to enjoy his Lebanese-inspired menus, he knew he had enough to go out on his own.
Today, he’s enjoying the freedom that comes with running his own business, including the freedom over his creativity, location, and time.
“9–5 is from the industrial era,” he says, hammering home his beliefs about outdated approaches to the work world. “Robert Owen once had to advocate for changing the 14-hour workday to an 8-hour workday, using the slogan, ‘Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.’
“I believe we are now at a time where technology has made us efficient enough that the 8-hour day should be cut down as well. On the other side, there are periods when I’ll work 10-hour days three days in a row because there are things to get done, and not just because I have a time slot to fill. We need to find a happy medium.”
Another area Dallah has gained freedom is in where he spends his time. An ardent traveler, and someone who has close family in Lebanon, he tries to leverage time away to reset creatively.
I prefer to be an observer rather than a tourist when I travel.
“Travel does one thing really well,” he says. “It expands your perspective, allowing you to be more creative. I prefer to be an observer rather than a tourist when I travel. I usually find spots where I can watch the locals live their everyday life: get their coffee, have a meal, walk through the park. I like to take pieces from different cultures, behaviours, and interactions to build my own style of life from.”
Dallah’s creativity and penchant for self expression have flooded into other areas of his life as well. The most obvious is in his personal style, which is always put together, and usually involves joggers, trendy shoes, and a casual but well-tailored top.
His personal network is broad, and spans into the local design and fashion scenes — he’s also regularly invited to discuss new products and concepts with other tastemakers. At a recent discussion put on a by a local apparel brand, he was unafraid to declare his love for space-like fashion with the group.
“Have you seen the movie The Martian?” he asked. “All clothes should look like that,” he said, his eyes lighting up as he described the details of a futuristic aesthetic.
Beyond food and fashion, Dallah is also a co-founder at Lost Boy, a greeting card company with hand-drawn images and sayings, which occasionally creates custom works such as wedding invitations.
Transitioning from a stable paycheque to going out on your own is complicated for anyone, but with the right attitude and resilience, it’s a hurdle people like Dallah face with pragmatic optimism.
“There will always be lows,” he says. “Embrace them. Sleep on it. Talk about it. When all that is done, pick yourself up, do something uplifting (hike, bike, swim, etc), and get back to work.”
As for what’s working really well for Dallah, and making this crazy journey worthwhile?
“It’s connecting with people. I’m able to meet and work with so many people right now.
“What I’m working on is exciting for them to watch or be a part of too. It’s part of the reason I decided to focus on food.”
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