The husband and wife are owners of the Middle Eastern sweets shop Bigdash, which originated in Richardson and branched out last year to Frisco.
The idea behind the business started with Khattab making Arabic ice cream and helawet el-jibn, a sweet cheese pastry, at home for friends and family.
Little by little, her hobby grew, demanding more time and resources. She started selling treats from her home kitchen. But she had an ambitious goal, Alrefaai said.
“She would tell me, ‘Hey, I wanna make kinafa so bad,’” Alrefaai said. “[But] kinafa is a very sensitive item, pretty traditional."
He described kinafa as a staple dessert in many cultures but with variations “depending on how you grew up.”
After several attempts and some taste tests, Alrefaai said his wife settled on a recipe for the cheesy pastry that would suit most people, regardless of which culture they grew up in.
He said he also encouraged her to rent a commercial kitchen to keep up with the demand. It soon became impossible to keep up with the orders, Alrefaai said, who at the time was working in a convenience store and owned a couple restaurants.
“I quit my job and started working with her full time,” Alrefaai said.
They opened the Richardson shop in 2016 and followed last February with a shop on Preston Road in Frisco.
In addition to kinafa, the shop sells ice cream, cookies, baklava and other Middle Eastern treats.
Bigdash also does catering.
Alrefaai said the goal is to make kinafa a household name for people who might not be familiar with the dessert.
“I want [Bigdash] to be everywhere,” Alrefaai said. “And I’m gonna do whatever it takes to help [Khattab] get to that point because no one works as hard as she did. The world of kinafa is coming.”
Bigdash
717 Lingco Drive, Ste. 210, Richardson
972-979-4098
www.bigdash.com
Hours: Sun.-Thu. noon-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. noon-11 p.m.
