OUR STORY · This is not just a food truck but a story of a man who refused to give up
Our Story: My journey: From ambition to resilience
Built from nothing. Lost everything. Built again.
Some businesses are born from an opportunity. Others are born from a dream. INFAZ Burgers & Steaks was born from a refusal to give up.
This isn't just the story of a restaurant.
It's a story of ambition, failure, sacrifice, betrayal, resilience and the courage to start all over again when everything you've worked for has been taken away.
And above all, it's a story about never giving up.
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Chapter 01 · The beginning
A dreamer at 17
My entrepreneurial journey began at just 17 years old.
I didn't come from a restaurant background. I came from the world of business, where I learned early that opportunities aren't always given to you. Sometimes, you have to create them yourself.
From trading and small ventures to building successful businesses, I spent my early years learning, taking risks, making mistakes and pushing myself beyond what seemed possible.
By 2015, I had established three businesses and made a bold decision to expand into the Maldives.
Life was moving in the right direction. My businesses were growing, and I had built a level of stability that many entrepreneurs work years to achieve.
But I was never someone who could sit comfortably with success.
I wanted to build something different.
Something people could experience, remember and fall in love with.
And that's where my journey into food began.
Chapter 02 · 2018
The $120,000 lesson
In February 2018, I entered the food and beverage industry for the first time.
I brought a healthy restaurant franchise called Calorie Counter from Sri Lanka to the Maldives.
I believed I had found the perfect opportunity. I invested my money, energy and confidence into a business I was certain would succeed.
Eight months later, I had lost nearly $120,000.
It was one of the hardest financial lessons of my life.
I quickly realised that running a restaurant was completely different from running any other business.
I had little control over the recipes, ingredients and operational decisions that could make a difference.
I could have walked away from the food industry forever.
Many people probably would have.
But I wasn't ready to let my first failure become my final chapter.
Instead of giving up, I decided to learn everything myself.
Chapter 03 · 2018–2019
From my home kitchen to my first success
I went back to the beginning.
My own kitchen.
I started experimenting with burgers, steaks, different cuts of beef, cooking methods and sauces.
I travelled to Dubai, Singapore and Turkey, visiting restaurants, studying food preparation, learning techniques and understanding what made certain burgers and steaks unforgettable.
There were countless experiments, failed recipes, wasted ingredients and long nights spent trying to get things right.
I wasn't trained as a chef.
But I had something just as important.
The determination to learn.
In February 2019, I opened Steak and Coffee Bar in the Maldives.
This time, it was my concept.
My recipes.
My decisions.
My responsibility.
And it worked.
Customers loved the food. The restaurant grew, and what started as an attempt to recover from failure became the foundation of something much bigger.
Within the same year, I expanded with Haws, Haws Eatery and Machan Restora.
By the end of 2019, I had built four restaurant brands in the Maldives.
For the first time, I felt that all the failures, sleepless nights and sacrifices had finally been worth it.
But life had other plans.
Chapter 04 · 2020
When the world stopped, so did everything I built
Then came COVID-19.
Almost overnight, the world shut down.
The Maldives depended heavily on tourism, and the restaurant industry was devastated.
For months, there were no tourists, no customers and almost no revenue.
But the expenses didn't stop.
Rent continued.
Salaries remained.
Bills kept arriving.
And every passing month brought more pressure.
I watched the businesses I had worked so hard to create slowly fall apart.
One by one, I had to close them.
Machan Restora.
Haws.
Haws Eatery.
Four restaurants became one.
Only Steak and Coffee Bar survived.
It was devastating.
I had spent years building something meaningful, only to watch almost everything disappear because of circumstances completely outside my control.
The financial damage was enormous.
The mental pressure was even worse.
There were nights when I couldn't sleep, days when I questioned every decision I'd ever made, and moments when giving up seemed like the easiest option.
But even at my lowest point, I held on to one belief.
As long as I was still standing, my story wasn't over.
Chapter 05 · 2021–2023
The comeback
When the Maldives began reopening, I started rebuilding.
Slowly.
One customer at a time.
One debt payment at a time.
One small victory at a time.
Steak and Coffee Bar began thriving again.
In 2021, I launched Khalid's Burgers, a restaurant named after my son, Khalid.
That business was especially meaningful to me because it carried something far greater than commercial ambition.
It carried my son's name.
Later that year, I expanded Steak and Coffee Bar into a five-star resort in the Maldives.
What once seemed impossible was happening.
I was rebuilding everything.
In 2022, my health brought new challenges, forcing me to make frequent trips to Dubai for medical treatment while continuing to manage my businesses.
But I kept going.
In early 2023, I opened another restaurant, Don Corleone.
After years of financial hardship, business closures and uncertainty, I finally felt that life was getting back on track.
My restaurants were operating.
My debts were coming under control.
My confidence was returning.
I thought the worst was behind me.
I was wrong.
Chapter 06 · November 2023
The day I lost everything again
November 2023 changed my life forever.
I was in Dubai receiving medical treatment when I received news that turned my entire world upside down.
My marriage was ending.
And because my businesses in the Maldives had been registered under my former wife's name due to the local ownership arrangements, I faced losing control of everything I had spent years building.
Steak and Coffee Bar.
Khalid's Burgers.
Don Corleone.
Years of hard work, investment, sacrifice and memories.
Everything I had fought to create was suddenly beyond my control.
The financial loss was painful.
But the emotional damage was something I cannot fully describe.
These weren't just restaurants to me.
They represented years of my life.
The dreams I had chased.
The sacrifices I had made.
The failures I had overcome.
And the future I had imagined for my family.
After surviving the collapse of my businesses during COVID-19, I never imagined I would have to face another loss like this.
This time, it wasn't a pandemic.
It was personal.
And it broke me in ways that money never could.
But it did not defeat me.
Chapter 07 · 2023–2025
Rebuilding my life in Dubai
From November 2023, I made a decision that would change the direction of my life.
I stayed in Dubai.
I wasn't going back to the Maldives to continue fighting for a life that no longer existed the way I had known it.
I had lost my businesses, my financial security and the future I thought I had built.
But I still had my experience.
I still had my knowledge.
And most importantly, I still had the will to fight.
I started rebuilding from the ground up.
There was no restaurant empire waiting for me.
No established business to fall back on.
No easy road ahead.
Dubai was a new beginning, but starting over in one of the world's most competitive cities was anything but easy.
I focused on rebuilding my finances, taking opportunities wherever I could, planning my next move and saving what I needed to return to the food industry.
Some days brought progress.
Others brought disappointment.
There were moments when it felt like I was working endlessly without getting anywhere.
I had to learn to accept a much simpler life than the one I had previously known.
But I reminded myself of something important.
I had built successful businesses before. Not because I was lucky, but because I was willing to do the work.
And no one could take that experience away from me.
For two years, I continued working towards my comeback.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Determined to create something that would truly belong to me.
Not just another restaurant.
A brand built on everything life had taught me.
Chapter 08 · 2025
The birth of INFAZ Burgers & Steaks
After everything I had been through, I knew that if I returned to the food industry, I wanted to do it differently.
I didn't want to build a business simply to sell burgers and steaks.
I wanted to create a brand that reflected my beliefs.
A brand built on integrity, premium ingredients, traditional cooking and an uncompromising commitment to quality.
That vision became INFAZ Burgers & Steaks.
We made a deliberate decision to cook and fry exclusively in premium Wagyu beef tallow, embracing a traditional cooking method that delivers exceptional flavour.
We committed ourselves to carefully selected, premium ingredients, quality beef and food prepared with genuine attention to detail.
We didn't want to compete by serving the cheapest burger.
We wanted to earn the trust of customers who appreciate the difference quality makes.
From the first burger to every steak and portion of fries, every detail matters.
Because when you've lost everything and fought your way back, you don't rebuild something ordinary.
You build something worth believing in.
How we cook
We cook and fry exclusively in Wagyu beef tallow.
No seed oils or vegetable oils used for cooking or frying.
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Traditional cooking
Tallow is rendered beef fat, the traditional cooking fat of great chip shops and steakhouses. We chose it on purpose.
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Rich flavour
Cooking in Wagyu beef tallow gives our burgers, steaks and fries a deeper, savoury flavour.
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Searing and frying
A rich, golden sear on our burgers and steaks, and fries with real crunch.
Chapter 09 · Today
Two locations. One dream. No limits.
Today, INFAZ Burgers & Steaks has grown to two locations in Dubai.
For some, that might seem like a small achievement.
For me, it means everything.
Every customer who visits us, every order we receive and every person who comes back for another burger reminds me why I never gave up.
It reminds me of the first $120,000 I lost.
The restaurants I had to close during COVID-19.
The businesses I lost in 2023.
The difficult days of rebuilding in Dubai.
And the countless times life gave me a reason to stop.
But I never did.
Our journey is still at the beginning.
Our ambition is to take INFAZ Burgers & Steaks beyond Dubai and introduce our philosophy of premium ingredients, traditional cooking and uncompromising quality to customers around the world.
We're not building this brand just to become another restaurant chain.
We're building something that can stand the test of time.
Something my family can be proud of.
Something that represents perseverance, passion and the belief that even after losing everything, you can still create something extraordinary.
Chapter 10 · Our promise
Our promise
We will never compromise on the quality of our ingredients.
We will never take shortcuts simply to reduce costs.
We will always respect the trust our customers place in us.
And we will never forget the journey that brought us here.
Because INFAZ Burgers & Steaks isn't just a business.
It's my second chance.
It's proof that failure is not the end.
And it's a reminder that sometimes, losing everything is where the greatest comeback begins.
We lost. We learned. We rebuilt. And we never gave up.
— Founder, INFAZ Burgers & Steaks
From the archive
The journey in photographs
Twenty photographs from the founder's journey. Select any photo to view it larger.
