What’s happening: It was less than a year ago when Haraz Coffee House first opened in east downtown Dearborn. Some ten months later and the cafe now has a second location open on the border of Warren and Sterling Heights with several more planned throughout metro Detroit. Haraz Coffee House opened its new location at 32766 Ryan Rd. in Warren this past March.

Who they are: Hamzah Nasser founded Haraz Coffee after traveling throughout the Middle East, coming home inspired by the coffee culture he experienced there. Haraz Coffee specializes in Yemeni- and Turkish-style coffees, espresso-based drinks, and a variety of baked goods, and imports its beans from Yemeni farmers.

[Read “Coffee is ‘a culture that unites people’: Haraz Coffee opens in Dearborn” on Metromode.]

Big plans: Nasser isn’t stopping after the opening of this second location. He says that two Detroit locations, one on the Wayne State campus and one in Midtown, should be open sometime this summer. And by the summer of 2023, Nasser says that there will be 11 Haraz Coffee House locations open throughout metro Detroit.

Something new and exciting: “We want to bring something new, we want to be something exciting, we want to create jobs,” Nasser says. “You know, Michigan is one of the fastest growing economies in the country and it's small businesses like this that help to grow a good economy and create jobs. So we're doing our best as much as possible.”

But wait, there’s more: In addition to their expansion, as well as a complement to it, Nasser also tells us that work is currently underway on Haraz HQ, a 6,000 sq. ft. former Ford Motor Company building that he’s leasing on Rotunda Drive in Dearborn. It’s there where he plans a “coffee school,” where he’ll train future baristas and store managers, offer experiential coffee workshops where people can come in and learn how to make coffee drinks and latte art, and serve as the distribution center for shipping their coffee beans throughout the U.S. and Canada.

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