Alongside My Family, We Own Three Franchises In The Chicagoland Area. Growing Up, I Remember The Burdened Shame Of The Stinky Smells Of Kimchi, Embarrassed By My Culture. I Was Bullied And Harassed For Being Asian And I Battled With My Identity For Years.
I’ve Always Loved Baking And Cooking As A Teenager (Definitely Began With The Easy Bake Oven), But This Journey Really Began In College. They Say You Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone And I Sure As Hell Missed All The Things I Took For Granted; Every Korean Meal, Cooked From Scratch And Made With Love By My Umma. I Would Call Her To Ask How She Would Make Certain Dishes, I Missed All Those Dishes, Especially Stinky Kimchi! So I Would Cook To Recreate The Warm Feelings Of Love When We Gathered For Dinner As A Family. I Knew Right At The End Of College, When I Was Months Away From Graduating With A Degree In Education, That I Would Pay Off Student Loans For A Degree I’ll Never Use. I Wanted A Restaurant. I Saved Up For Years As A Bartender And When My Parents Asked Me To Invest In A Restaurant In 2017, I Definitely Hesitated For A Moment Because Well, What About My Dream? What About My Restaurant? But I Didn’t Hesitate Too Long, They Were My Parents. They Sacrificed Everything They Knew To Come To The United States For A Better Life For Their Children. So From There, We Opened Two More.