Wissam Kahi, a Lebanese immigrant and entrepreneur, owes much to his grandmother, who taught him to cook and appreciate food, but he can thank Donald Trump for his early business success.
In the past few weeks–starting right around the time Trump took office–the co-founder of Eat Offbeat has seen a spike in sales at his New York City-based catering business. Last month alone, Kahi–whose company hires refugees from all over to design and prepare meals for events–says his sales doubled. The uptick, he adds, is absolutely tied to Trump’s presidency, or more precisely, Trump’s recent efforts to prevent immigrants from certain countries from entering the United States.
“February tends to be a slow month, but this was our best month ever,” says Kahi, who wouldn’t disclose annual sales, but did reveal his company made more than 11,000 deliveries in 2016, its first full year of business. “There’s definitely been a clear pick-up since the travel ban,” he adds.
The president signed an executive order last month temporarily barring citizens of seven predominately-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.–and barring refugees indefinitely. While that initial plan was thwarted by a judge in San Francisco, the president issued a revised executive order in early March. That measure has also been temporarily blocked by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland.