Tech Executive Leaves $450K Salary for BBQ Restaurant, Finds Greater Fulfillment

He was working at Silicon Valley's biggest tech giants. However, he left it all to do work that was impactful and not just profitable. Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi, a 35-year-old American techie had spent 14 years working at Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Shopify and Cruise. At the peak of his career, he was earning $450,000 a year. However, when he realised that he had become disillusioned with making money rather than having an impact, he resigned. At 33, he left San Francisco for a job at a religious non-profit in Texas, taking a pay cut of more than 50%. At the same time, he continued hosting dinner parties and cooking barbecue for his friends. "I started making halal briskets, and they kept telling me they couldn't find anything like it," he shared with Business Insider. This is when Kafi decided if it was time to create something of his own.

A barbecue restaurant

In December 2024, he opened Kafi BBQ. "We prepared enough barbecue to last three days, but we sold through all of it on the first day," he said. Soon, the restaurant gained recognition with D Magazine naming it one of the top 12 barbecue restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Eater naming it one of the 15 best new restaurants in America. In 2025, he generated under $2.3 million in revenue and this year, it is projected to reach up to $4 million. However, Kafi is yet to pay off his initial investments. The food costs at the restaurant are about $125,000 a month, labour costs amount to $50,000, rent is $15,000 and other utilities all add up to a monthly expense of $215,000. While the restaurant is profitable, he has yet to pay off the investment in the restaurant which cost about $1 million. "I still haven't paid myself a single dollar since opening and have been living off of my savings," he said.

Better than tech

Kafi puts in about 70-80 hours a week in his restaurant, more than he worked during his tech jobs. Still, he finds this work more rewarding. Earlier, his circle included engineering teams, designers and product managers and it was a small one. Now, he is consistently meeting new people from different communities. "One of the most rewarding parts of my day is walking from table to table, talking with guests and hearing their feedback. When someone enjoys the food, that's super impactful for me," he said. But Kafi has carried his tech-self with him to his eatery. He shared how before opening the restaurant he spent months selling brisket from his house in order to be certain of his decision. He worked with meat suppliers to understand costs and to date, maintains a spreadsheet of all the recipes he offers at his restaurant. Further on, he uses what he calls a "product-development approach" when creating a new menu every month. "In a lot of ways, barbecue isn't as different from tech as people might think. I'm still experimenting, solving problems, and constantly trying to improve a product. I think that's why the transition felt so natural," he said.