Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Kwon.
Ann, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Back in March 2010, my brother, Neil, conceived and brought to life an intriguing Korean/German concept with craft beers to Koreatown, Los Angeles. With little to no experience serving, I’d offer to help serve whenever he needed help on the weekends or during my vacations. Then came May 2011, when Neil had asked me if I wanted to run Biergarten full time.
It was the last month of my senior year at UC Riverside, and surely enough, I had thought, ‘Yeah, why not! Sounds awesome.’ It was going to be my first real gig out in the real world, and I was stoked to be given such an opportunity to learn and experience managing a business. Nepotism had played to my advantage. Things, however, were not as pleasant as I had expected it to be at the time and that started the beginning of my long journey with Biergarten.
Neil had relocated out of the states, and I was given the reins with the inevitable pressures to maintain and steer the business into something more. I was managing 25 craft beers on tap with little to no interest for beer or the refined palate to enjoy beer at the time. Neither did I have the prior or proper experience of managing a business, nor did I envision myself running a sports beer bar in LA at the age of 21, let alone running a bar period. I felt lost as I was still trying to even figure myself out.
Biergarten was only one year old when I had started, and we still had a lot to figure out in terms of the direction and vision of the brand. Also, I had a lot of homework to do on how to make this place function. In hindsight, I couldn’t have done any of this without luck riding by my side. I was lucky to have my youth, my family, our staff and good friends to help support me mentally and emotionally during the years.
I learned while running a restaurant/bar that it requires grit, lots of physical labor and teaches you invaluable lessons of managing people and emotions in such a high paced environment. It was a tumultuous time not only for myself but also for my family as our lives had taken a drastic turn.
But the results accumulated into a beautiful and unexpected mix mash of what Biergarten stands to be today: a culmination of generations and cultures colliding to create a fun and comfortable space for all people to enjoy.
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I have never faced such struggles and bumps along the way as I did with running Biergarten. As it is a family business, we faced a lot of, and growing pains within the household as the dynamics between me and my family shifted. Not only were we facing internal household struggles, but also, we had to face a lot of challenges as a new business trying to compete with the LA market and the recession at the time.
One of the biggest challenges I faced having to run this business once Neil had left was, trying to bridge the generational gap between me and parents, and explaining and having them understand the vision of the brand that Neil had first started and I was trying to continue to create.
Secondly, not having enough customers and exposure to pay for the bills and overhead with impending thoughts of having to shut the business down. Never had I felt so restless, hopeless, and a failure in my life. Although it still is an ongoing battle, I have never felt so empowered overcoming these different struggles.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the BiergartenLA – A Ktown Gastropub story. Tell us more about the business.
BiergartenLA (Koreatown) is a Korean and German-themed sports bar with 25 beers on tap and a full bar. Although there are multiple biergartens all throughout Los Angeles, we are the only one of its kind that serves Korean & German-influenced dishes. BiergartenLA is what we believe LA is: a mix-mash of different cultures.
We have our top three dishes: the German fried rice, Chosun Burger, and the Drunk Chicken. Two of which has been lucky enough to be featured on Food Network’s ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.’ Our most eclectic ‘German Fried Rice’ is the perfect example of what we do. It’s sauerkraut and bratwurst thrown into a fried rice form, tossed with soy sauce and sriracha, topped with homemade gravy and an egg, and the result? Excellence.
Who knew rice, bratwurst, and sauerkraut was such a perfect match. Next, the ‘Chosun Burger,’ is packed with sautéed kimchi, gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) aioli, Angus chuck patty, house pickled daikon with perilla, and spam. And the ‘Drunk Chicken,’ is our signature oven roasted beer brine chicken served with a cabbage slaw, pickled daikon, and house-made soy sauce jalapeños.
What makes me the most proud as a company is that BiergartenLA has become a space that’s comfortable for people of all different cultures and ages to come and have fun. We see people of all different age groups, ethnicities, come together all under one roof. I feel like it’s rare to go to a place that has such a wide and diverse range of people. I feel like we have been able to welcome everyone to our place.
Most of the menu items are made from scratch as we strive to make sure the quality of our food remains consistent.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
I’m honestly not sure where the industry is going over the next 5-10 years. But one impending challenge I see restaurants facing is the increase of minimum wages in the next five years.
Contact Info:
- Address: 206 N Western Ave
- Website: www.biergartenla.com
- Phone: 3234664860
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/biergartenla
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/biergartenla
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/biergartenla
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/biergarten-los-angeles?osq=biergarten
Image Credit:
Stan Lee (Fried Chicken Sandwich Studios)
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