Meet Shawarma Refuge
Bassam Aamoudi opened Shawarma Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington in July 2025 with a clear sense of what he wanted to build: a food cart serving authentic Mediterranean flavors with a focus on care and quality to keep customers coming back. In just a few months, the word spread, and demand started to grow.
But cooking up delicious dishes like Chicken Shawarma and Lamb Gyro proved to be only half of the battle for Shawarma Refuge. To sustain their early momentum, Aamoudi knew he needed to launch an equally hearty digital strategy: a professional online presence that made Shawarma Refuge easy to find and order from to drive commision-free direct orders.
A branded website served by DoorDash Commerce Platform
The first step in building the food cart's digital presence was launching a restaurant website through DoorDash Commerce Platform. Because DoorDash Marketplace was already Aamoudi's trusted partner for third-party delivery, Commerce Platform, DoorDash's suite of tools designed to drive direct orders, was an obvious choice to round out Shawarma Refuges restaurant tech.
With Commerce Platform Aamoudi was able to easily launch a professional, search-optimized home on the web, with built-in online ordering for restaurants and commission-free direct orders. DoorDash handled the full setup — design, photos, menu setup — so Aamoudi could stay focused on serving up his Lamb Shawarma and Baklava.
After launching the branded website, the results on Google were almost instant. When customers search for Shawarma Refuge, according to Aamoudi, his restaurant's DoorDash-powered branded website comes up first — making it a primary source of incoming orders.
"When people look for my business on Google, my website comes up first. That’s the main source of customers ordering from the site."
To drive even more customers to the site, Aamoudi added an offline layer to his marketing strategy: physical stickers placed around his cart that direct customers to order directly through the website. It’s a simple, creative tactic that bridges the in-person experience with direct digital ordering — and reinforces the habit of going straight to the source.
Best of all, the orders placed through Shawarma Refuge's site are commission-free, enabling Aamoudi to boost margins and keep more of every order.
“Since launching my own website through Commerce platform, I have seen a lot more customers ordering from my site. And plus, it's saving money because online orders are commission-free."
More baklava, more bucks
Within three weeks of launching the website, the results were clear:
• +67% lift in sales in the three weeks following the website launch
• +8% increase in average order value in the same period
And the momentum hasn’t let up. More customers are choosing to order through Shawarma Refuge's website — not just because it’s easy to find, but because the experience feels right — echoing Shawarma Refuge's unique brand and in-person experience.
“Since I have my own website, I have seen more customers ordering from it. It means customers like it — they feel better going to the website to order.”
For a food cart less than a year old, that kind of growth — paired with the savings from commission-free ordering — represents a powerful shift in how the business runs and the revenue it keeps. As Shawarma Refuge continues to expand its reach,DoorDash Commerce Platform will be core to their strategy moving forward, providing the digital foundation for long-term growth and customer retention.
All figures based on DoorDash data Nov'25-Jan'26
Shawarma Refuge received compensation in exchange for their participating in this study
