First publication: From a local delivery company established to solve a single delivery problem in Umm al-Fahm—to a nationwide player expanding the boundaries of the field: HAAT continues to accelerate growth, launches collaborations with Yango Deli and Israel Post, and marks a clear goal—to become a broad and flexible delivery platform, far beyond food.
The delivery company HAAT was founded in 2018 in Umm al-Fahm by Dr. Hassan Abbasi, who holds a PhD in computer science. The idea was born when Abbasi was on home leave from his job at Intel in Zurich and had difficulty ordering a delivery to his home.
“There are hundreds of restaurants in Umm al-Fahm, but they had many technological difficulties. They didn’t have digital menus or couriers, and within the city itself there are large areas without addresses,” Abbasi recounts. “I started the company HAAT (which means ‘bring’ in Arabic) as a side project, a challenge I wanted to solve. We started with 9 restaurants in the city and 5 couriers, and both my wife and I worked at the beginning as couriers.”
Many days have passed since then, and HAAT is already a serious competitor in the Israeli delivery market. The company currently operates in over 50 cities across the country, has 5,000 couriers, and provides consumers with competition and choice among a variety of restaurants and types of payment methods—including cash.
“Our slogan is ‘Whatever you want, however you want,’ and our advantage has always been and always will be technological—that’s how we grew,” Abbasi explains. “Technology allows us to be more efficient, to reach places without addresses—which is a derivative of our activity in Arab cities, but can also be excellent for Haifa residents who want delivery to a park or the beach.”
The company offers payment flexibility: “You can pay with us via Bit, Cibus for high-tech workers, credit card, PayPal, and also cash, which is good for youth and for those who for other reasons prefer to operate with cash. We make the adjustments.”
Strategic collaborations
Recently, HAAT launched a collaboration with Yango Deli, the supermarket and convenience products chain. According to Abbasi, the collaboration was built on two main factors: First, Yango Deli’s technology allows HAAT customers to order only what is in stock—ensuring an excellent customer experience and preventing disappointment. Second, the availability of Yango Deli branches spread throughout the area ensures fast delivery of fresh and refrigerated products to the customer.
In addition, HAAT launched a collaboration with Israel Post, enabling customers who do not want to go to a pickup station to receive the delivery to their home, at the hours they choose, via the HAAT app.
“Our collaborations and growth are carried out gradually, and we will reach anywhere there is a need and where we can bring value,” Abbasi emphasizes. “We do not limit ourselves to the food sector only; we also provide a Netflix subscription that can be purchased in cash, computer games, over-the-counter medications, convenience products, and more. And what excites us most is that the demand for us comes from the field.”
In Haifa, the third-largest city in the country, the company has been operating since April, and for Hassan this represents a personal closing of a circle. “As a 12-year-old boy, I was sent to the Mar Yohanna church school in Wadi Nisnas. I would leave Umm al-Fahm at 5 a.m., travel on two buses, and return toward evening,” he recalls.
“Haifa’s culinary scene is amazing, and the people of Haifa embraced us. We currently have about 300 restaurants on the app, with 70 of them working exclusively with us—this is an expression of trust,” Abbasi says proudly. “We look at all the players in the field at eye level, and we come to restaurateurs and give them added value—whether it’s advertising and photography with us, building a website, and also a fair commission for the restaurateur that of course translates to customers. We had forecasts in Haifa, but we surpassed them all.”
As part of the feeling that they are part of the city, the company is now working on a move that will grant free deliveries to major hospitals in the city and to students when they are at the university or the Technion. “Haifa is a city of students, and it has a huge community of medical workers and hospital visitors. We are happy to plan a campaign for these two populations,” Abbasi explains. “By the way, I myself still teach at the Technion, and some of the company’s employees are my students.”
Challenges during wartime
Not everything is rosy. During the 12-day war with Iran, a missile fragment brought down parts of the ceiling of the company’s headquarters offices located near the Government Quarter. “My biggest fear as a CEO is that something will happen, God forbid, to my employees or to users on the way because of the company’s activity,” Abbasi says. “Fortunately, everyone was trained and knew to calmly go to the shelter, and couriers on the way also received an alert and entered protected places.”
Did the war affect the business because it is Arab-owned? Hassan says no. “We see ourselves as part of the city, and everyone works with us and we provide service to everyone—Lior and Sujud work together in operations with me, and there are restaurants of all kinds. During the war, people needed delivery services more. For example, in Acre, which was under sirens and many impacts, there was an increase in supermarket delivery orders, and we saw appreciation for the couriers that remained even after the war.”
The HAAT company is well known in the north and operates in places where it previously had no competitors, or where Wolt arrived only recently. Among the cities in which it operates in the north are the large city of Haifa, as well as Afula, Nof HaGalil, Acre, Karmiel, Yarka, Shefa-Amr, Umm al-Fahm, Migdal HaEmek, and recently also Nahariya.
They plan to continue expanding and also reach Zikhron Ya’akov in the first quarter of 2026, and to any place where the company can provide value, in Israel and abroad.
“We follow what is happening in Israel and also around the world, and we do not limit ourselves. We identified opportunities to bring value in markets in Germany and Greece that have characteristics similar to ours in certain cities in terms of cash consumption habits, and we also know that the market ultimately is moving toward reduced use of cash and we are preparing for the day when there will be no cash payments at all. Our advantage will always be technological and service-oriented.”