Juice Cleanses

Sherif Fouad is the founder of Raleigh Raw, a healthy cafe built for people who want to eat better without eating boring.

Born in Egypt and raised with a deep appreciation for food, hospitality, and culture, Sherif has been in the food and beverage world for over 30 years. He started early. At 14 years old, he became the youngest person in the DC area to work at Starbucks in 1995, getting a front-row education in coffee, service, speed, and daily customer rituals before most people had their first real job.

He went on to serve as senior class president, then graduated from East Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in applied economics. He later sharpened his juicing and mixology chops behind the bar in Manhattan and Washington, DC, absorbing how flavor, flow, atmosphere, and hospitality all work together.

Sherif started Raleigh Raw with a simple frustration: most healthy food felt too soft, too sterile, or too confusing. It either tasted like punishment, sounded like a lecture, or came wrapped in the same recycled wellness language everyone else was using. Sherif wanted to build something different: a place with real food, strong energy, good music, natural design, and a little bit of edge.

For Sherif, Raleigh Raw is more than smoothies, bowls, coffee, juices, and clean meals. It is a daily checkpoint for people trying to feel better, move better, and live with more intention without making ‘health’ their whole personality. The food matters, but so does the feeling. Walk in, get fueled, feel seen, know your barista, and leave with a little more momentum than you came in with.

His approach is rooted in discipline, hospitality, and culture. Outside the cafe, Sherif’s interests include functional training, boxing, jiu-jitsu, motorcycles, small scale real estate development,  design/placemaking (how humans interact with spaces). He is ServSafe certified, HACCP certified, and Matthew Kenney Academy Chef Certified (Plant-based culinary school) bringing both creative taste and operational seriousness to the brand.

In addition to leading Raleigh Raw, Sherif provides coaching and consulting for founders, operators, and teams looking to open or improve a fast-casual hospitality concept. If that's you, contact us to set up a discovery call.