He Left Banking to Sell Halal Sandwiches. Now Customers Come from London

There was a time when Sabre Benabdalla and Céline Bartolomeo could go an entire day without a single customer coming in. Today, some people travel from Belgium or even London to try their sandwiches. In Mantes-la-Jolie, in the Yvelines department, their small shop, Trisapori, has become a destination whose videos have racked up millions of views. “Even we are overwhelmed by this success,” Céline admits.

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Behind this success is a couple who knew very little about the restaurant business. He, of Moroccan origin, worked in banking. She, an Italian from Campania, had a career in marketing before converting to Islam. Their idea came from a simple frustration: Céline wanted to rediscover the flavors of her childhood, especially Italian cold cuts, but in a halal version.

The couple eventually decided to bet on the panuozzo, a specialty from Gragnano, near Naples. Neither quite a pizza nor really a sandwich, this bread made from pizza dough is filled with Italian cheeses, vegetables, pesto and cold cuts. At Trisapori, pork pancetta is replaced with beef, while the bacon is made with veal. All the ingredients are carefully sourced in Italy, the daily newspaper La Repubblica reports.

From bailiffs to queues outside the shop

But before the sandwich made a name for itself, it nearly cost its creators dearly. When the restaurant opened in September 2022, customers were few and far between. The couple had to borrow from relatives to stay afloat while seeking financial assistance. “We were under threat, with the bailiffs on our backs,” Sabre tells StreetPress.

For nearly two years, business struggled to take off. Sabre, however, stuck with his recipe. He took courses in baking and milling, studied fermentation and ran countless tests, sometimes in the middle of the night, to get the bread he was looking for.

The breakthrough came in April 2025. A food creator tried his panuozzo and posted a video on TikTok, calling it the best sandwich in France. The footage spread, curious customers flocked in and sales jumped by 30%. The couple had to hire ten people to keep up with demand.

The success has also attracted imitators. Several shops in the Île-de-France region now offer their own version of the Italian halal sandwich. Sabre and Céline say they have even been targeted by attempts at corporate espionage, including suppliers being contacted under false identities and their computers being hacked.

A second location in Paris is now under consideration. There is no shortage of franchise offers either, but the couple prefers to move at its own pace. “We want it to remain a family experience,” says Sabre, who intends to preserve the quality of the products rather than multiply the number of locations.