A New York City Falafel Icon Eyes Expansion to Southern California

More and more national restaurant brands are setting their sights on greater Los Angeles, as evidenced by today’s news that New York City export Mamoun’s Falafel is heading to Southern California.

The Mamoun’s news is, predictably, part of a Fransmart deal to bring eight units to Southern California in the coming years. Fransmart is perhaps America’s largest franchising development corporation, having previously helped grow the national footprint for names like Five Guys and that other New York City expat, Halal Guys. As QSR Magazine notes, Mamoun’s already has ten locations on the East Coast, and has tried out other cities like Dallas already, though that location closed last year.

Neither Mamoun’s nor Fransmart have listed any official locations for the upcoming restaurants in Southern California, though the deal with franchisees Ali and Munira Yusufaly are for Ventura and Los Angeles counties only.

As Eater NY has previously noted, Mamoun’s began life as one of the city’s most beloved Middle Eastern restaurants, a place for terrific falafel and other late night fare. The company itself claims to be the oldest falafel restaurant in New York City, dating back to 1971, and one of the oldest Middle Eastern restaurants in the country. They’ll certainly have their work cut out for them here, though, given the proliferation of modern Middle Eastern food at places like Bavel, plus the countless old-school Lebanese, Iranian, and Armenian restaurants that dot the map in Southern California.

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