Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark and Lene Houck.
Mark and Lene, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Lene and I have both been around food most of our lives; from our earliest experiences cooking in our family kitchens to life in NYC (the place we met and married) and finally to gorgeous and wonderful LA, now one of the world’s great food cities.
We moved to the West Coast in 2000 and began our successful catering company Food By Lene in 2003 almost by accident. We decided to follow the path of working together and the past 20 years have brought truly amazing experiences. Major art openings, high-profile weddings, intimate dinner parties, heartfelt remembrances, even the honor of serving a sitting President; all incredible events we would not trade for anything. It’s been a wonderful journey together.
In 2013 we purchased an original 1959 hot dog stand on West Adams and after major renovations has become the home of both Food By Lene and our restaurant Open Face Food Shop. Based on the memories of Lene’s Danish heritage and inspired (weekly!) by the world-class produce of the California farmers we have come to call friends over the last two decades, it’s truly “the little sandwich shop that could”.
The same team that has served the President of the United States and LA’s Elite for over 20 years now serves our amazing West Adams neighbors. We couldn’t be more proud.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The hospitality industry is a hard business and is never a “smooth road”, but one that we’ve loved walking together. Long and stressful hours, constant problem-solving, and traditionally low margins are daily challenges for people in our field so yeah, there’s been a regular stream of bumps and bruises.
COVID was the biggest challenge of all. Restaurants were (and remain) one of the hardest-hit industries in the country and we were certainly no exception. We were two weeks from signing the paperwork on our second location when the lockdown hit. We had to put our expansion plans on hold just to survive as a business.
Staffing shortages, rising costs, supply chain breakdowns, social distancing, and of course COVID itself… it all hit us and our fellow restaurants like a bullseye. We did everything we could think of to survive (some called it pivoting but we all knew what it was) and somehow made it through. The National Restaurant Association estimates around 90,000 restaurants just like us closed permanently due to COVID and its fallout. We all feel that loss.
The last few years have been an uphill battle for sure, but most of us had a tough time. We learned that we really need each other to survive and to thrive.
It’s in that spirit that we’ve kept going, knowing that things will get better over time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Lene and I have spent years- decades in fact- sourcing the most incredible ingredients from the best farmers in California. Lene’s upbringing on a small family farm in Denmark made the idea of “Farm to Table” something natural and built into every meal. Here, with access to some of the best growers in the country, the choice of where to source was obvious for us.
At Open Face Food Shop, we bridge the gap between cultures with the incredible Scandinavian cuisine of her youth and the world-class aesthetic of the SoCal restaurant scene. “Modern Danish” is brought to a whole new level with the freshest seasonal ingredients from our local growers.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
We’ve taken some big risks, to be sure. Buying and rebuilding the property for the restaurant took everything we had; from financial resources to hours in the day, we’ve had to make the kitchen the number one priority in our lives.
We’ve come to think of risk taking as more of a calculation than “finger crossing” (although there’s always some of that). We try to gather as much information of as many types as we can, even if we’re not sure it’s immediately relevant, and start the conversation about what we think will create value and make the community better.
In the case of Open Face Food Shop, we knew that Danish cuisine would be unfamiliar to many but really exciting to some. How long it would take for people to understand our mission and make the time to come was a big part of the “risk” calculation. Getting enough reviews, positive press, etc. can take many months if not years.
Noma, the legendary restaurant in Copenhagen, had been voted Best Restaurant in the world multiple times so we took that as a positive sign of curiosity in Danish food and culture. We’ve always felt that quality, service, and a genuine respect for the community are universal, and taken together it helped turn the idea of risk into an exciting challenge.
The 2+ years of COVID was something that never made it into our risk assessment obviously, and it was at that point that we needed to rely on the things that got us started in the first place; Creativity, determination… and grit 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.openfacefoodshop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/openfacefoodshop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/openfacefoodshop/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/open-face-food-shop-los-angeles
Image Credits
All images copyright Mark Houck [email protected]
