Today we’d like to introduce you to Albert Shim.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Albert. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m actually a cook by trade. My father is a gardener/landscaper by trade, and has always been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. Without someone like him to look up to, I probably never would have tried to jump into being an entrepreneur myself. I went to culinary school back in 2005 and spent a good 8 years of my life working in various upscale, fine dining restaurants and catering establishments before launching Belly Bombz in 2013 (a bulk of those years were spent with Patina Restaurant Group).
When I was a kid, my mother used to make these awesome double fried Korean style chicken wings and occasionally brought them to church for their weekly community lunch. The church members went crazy over her wings and gave her so many smiles compliments. It didn’t take much time for me to realize that this is a product that other people would want to be able to enjoy as well. I did a little research on local farmer’s markets to see if anyone was selling anything close to what I wanted to do. Nobody was.
I saw a void in the market and an opportunity to fill that void, so I decided to go all in!
With some money I received from a tax return, I went and bought an EZ-up tent, a campfire stove-top, and large pots to fill with oil. I started planning a small menu, with different sauces to accompany the wings. I got with some friends that helped me design my logo. I put a deposit down to test the market at a local farmers market operating only on Sundays out of the city of Long Beach, CA. I got the permission of a local sushi restaurant down the street to let me use their kitchen space to prep my food and drove around my dad’s beat up red gardener’s truck to transport everything to and from the farmer’s market.
When I look back at myself, I can’t help but laugh at how ambitious and excited I was to be there. I almost never made any profit, but we got a lot of good feedback from the locals. One day, one of our customers told me to look into food trucks. After researching that industry and realizing that no one had anything similar to what we were doing, I took out a small loan and invested in a food truck.
At an annual event called 626 Night Market, I met my future business partner, Youngho Yoo, who was working as a catering director/manager for Kogi BBQ at the time. Kogi and our truck apparently shared similar lines at the event which impressed him a lot. He eventually hopped on full time, and we’ve spent the last four years together growing this concept to two food trucks and two brick and mortar establishments so far.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
If I can use swear words in here to emphasize the magnitude of how smooth this road has NOT been, I would. Having a solid plan always helps with preventing certain issues, but there are so many things that can still go wrong during our day to day. Here are a few struggles we’ve dealt with on our journey so far:
Food trucks give you all the headaches of owning your own restaurant. Not only that, but your location is not committed to only one spot, and therefore not secure. We’re constantly having to book future locations. Did I mention the entire restaurant sits on a set of wheels, and an engine that can barely handle the load of all the kitchen equipment that has been installed inside? Back in the summer of 2015, one of our trucks actually blew out its motor. A week later, the other truck’s motor and transmission blew out. It was a very devastating blow to our company, racking up over $15,000 in repair costs along with losing sales for almost two weeks.
We’ve had similar issues, and had our trucks actually towed to big events missing an entire engine before (which ended up being a huge blessing in disguise).
We’ve also been burglarized by previous employees in the past. This one time, somebody broke into our safe and stole an estimated $8,000 in cash.
It’s extremely hard to find good employees for food trucks. Entering into our fifth year of operation, we now feel a bit more secure with our workforce for the trucks, but we are still very hands on every day.
Respect from our employees was very hard to gain in the beginning, and I feel it had a lot to do with the fact that we were still very young. There’s been some awkward phases in the past where we had to deal with employees that were actually older than us. It didn’t work out so well.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The one thing that sets us apart from a lot of our fellow food truckers (please don’t hate me for saying these guys!), and other restaurants for that matter is the fact that we try not to use the steam table (food warmer/holder). We cook everything to order to ensure that everything is fresh, crispy, and delicious every single time.
We specialize in 8 different flavors that pair with our Korean inspired wings. There are plenty of other Korean fried chicken joints all over the world, but we wanted to make it available to the masses. We have flavors like our spicy garlic parmesan, and honey chipotle barbecue, which actually pair surprisingly well with the Korean style process to our wings. We also have these simple yet amazing pork belly sliders that are braised and seared crispy served with a tangy scallion slaw. This is the core menu that our trucks started off with, and what we’ve built everything else on top of.
The trucks still carry these menu items, and these items only, because it’s meant for more of a streamlined process at these huge events. It gets extremely difficult to feature anything else when you have a line of 50-100 customers outside waiting to order.
The brick and mortar establishment in Artesia is my baby through and through. We took our core menu from the trucks, added 40 local craft beers, and built a bigger menu around it. We serve beer friendly items, such as oxtail poutine, a deconstructed elotes plate, different types of burgers and sliders, and rice bowls. Our location in Whittier, which we actually just opened is more of a QSR style concept that we’re still evolving as we go. We eventually plan to buy out our neighbor and expand to be able to add a bar, and additional seating.
One thing that I’m extremely proud of with our company is the fact that something I built from the ground up has given so much opportunity and an income for all of the employees that work for us. Across the board, we have nearly 60 employees at the moment. Without their hard work and dedication, we would not be able to grow as much as we did. I am a strong believer in promoting from within and hesitate on bringing management in from the outside. I appreciate strong work ethic and a disciplined mind, and I’m always on the lookout for the ones in our company that try just a little bit harder. Their current qualifications mean nothing to me, as long as they have the right mentality, I know they’ll be able to handle anything that life throws at them. I want my guys to know that I got their backs as much as they got mine. We’re all a family here, and I’d like to keep it that way. If the company grows, everyone else has a chance to grow alongside the company, and I love that.
What were you like growing up?
I enjoy butterflies, and long walks on the beach…. just kidding.
I came from a very abusive household. My father was an alcoholic, who grew up in a very traditional Korean style mindset. Now that I’m older, we actually have a great relationship, but it took a very long time for me to accept what has happened and to get over the past.
I was a very angry individual growing up in high school. My high school transcript has a total of nine different schools on it. I’ve been in fights and expelled. I’ve actually been arrested on campus at Cypress High School in fifth period for threatening someone with a knife for messing around with my girlfriend at the time. I went straight to juvenile hall and spent the next half year behind bars. The remainder of my high school life included numerous altercations with other students, lawsuits, continuous transfers and expulsions. It’s funny, the fact that I maintained a 4.0 gpa at the probation and continuation schools I attended actually helped me get accepted into Cal State Long Beach straight out of high school. My mother’s persistence in getting me back into high school and all the stress I’ve caused is what motivates me to continue to push forward. I envision retiring my parents within the next few years.
I never went to prom. I guess I never had the chance to maintain friendships long enough to even consider wanting to go.
I really don’t know what it is, but I eventually found my peace in the crazy hectic turmoil of professional kitchens. When sh*t hits the fan and everyone is about to lose their minds, I get this crazy tunnel vision that I cannot explain.
I love scuba diving, and I wish I had more time and friends to share this activity with.
Fishing is great, but I like to get into the water and be able to pick and choose what I get to catch.
Now that I’m older, I’m focusing more on my health. I try to go to the gym and get at least an hour of exercise in 3 times a week. When time persists, I try to eat healthier as well. My dad’s diabetic, and my mom had a small stroke about two years ago, and it scares the crap out of me.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6717 Comstock Ave. Whittier, CA 90601
11824 Artesia Blvd. Artesia, CA 90701 - Website: www.bellybombz.com www.bellybombzkitchen.com
- Phone: 7147439533
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @bellybombz @albert_bellybombz
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bellybombzkitchen www.facebook.com/bellybombz
- Twitter: @bellybombz
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/belly-bombz-kitchen-artesia-5
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