Kamal’s Middle Eastern Specialties

Kamal Albarouki has operated his Kamal’s Middle Eastern Specialties in the Philadelphia’s historic Reading Terminal Market since 1981 with his wife Esra. Over the years, each of their three children, now all adults, have worked in the family business. The Albarouki family engaged Studio 6mm to work with them to update Kamal’s Restaurant and address issues of circulation, efficiency, and operation while refreshing the finishes and bringing them up to today’s standards.

The Market is one of America’s largest and oldest public markets housed in this National Historic Landmark Building since 1893. The Market is one of - if not the most vibrant and active retail environments that Philadelphia has to offer with thousands of people traversing the retail floor on a daily basis. In addition to meeting the family’s operational needs, Studio 6mm worked with the management company of the Terminal Market and the Philadelphia Historic Commission to design a solution in character with the historic interiors of the building. The goal of the project was to develop a new solution that felt as if it had always been there. The new design repositioned sales terminals to maximize efficiency and allow for more customers to be served at once, reducing wait times and associated lines. Food storage was moved from the back of house area to new display cases that show off the variety of fresh, local produce that goes into every dish. All construction work was required to occur off hours so as to not disrupt retail operations over the course of the normal business day. Kamal’s remained open for the duration of construction.