March 6, 2017

Meet Johneric Concordia of The Park’s Finest in Downtown Los Angeles and Echo Park

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johneric Concordia.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
The place to get American cuts of BBQ with a Filipino flavor.

Not quite like Southern BBQ rib shacks nor traditional Filipino fiesta food. This is BBQ born from the backyards of Southern California boogies. 50% Mom. 50% Pop. 100% L.A…

Established in 2009 as a small-scale catering company, the family business has grown each year. With support from family, the block, and community, The Park’s Finest was able to open its doors to the public in January 2012. The Park’s Finest now functions as an eatery near Downtown L.A. that provides fast casual convenience with a sit-down dining experience.

The mission of The Park’s Finest is to provide premium quality BBQ with a distinct flavor grown from 20 years of experience and family tradition, by introducing a Philippine island take to the backyard boogie. The Park’s Finest’s core commitment encompasses satisfying the people’s appetites, contributing to the revitalization of our local communities, and fostering a business model that is engaged with the health and well-being of our employees.

Origins

The Concordia Family has been mastering the art of BBQ for generations.

Meat became the canvas to showcase the cooks’ skills on the grill while brutally honest friends and family became the critics. The Concordia’s were always counted on to handle the neighborhood’s BBQ needs. “Big Tony” Concordia experimented with cane and pineapple, simmered with soy sauce, peppers, and spices to create a flavor that appealed to his Filipino palette. This established a recipe for the sauce that has been passed on to his sons and grandchildren.

Big Tony’s third son, Chef Johneric, has taken this service on the road with the very same team of families that he grew up with in Echo Park. The Bautista’s, the Pajimula’s, the Araquel’s – have been instrumental in innovating and developing the recipes that are served on The Park’s Finest menu today.

Utilizing local non-profits’ community based organizations small business programs, the team created a business plan, did a hood capital campaign, and set their sights on exemplifying Los Angeles BBQ.

In 2013, The Park’s Finest was featured on The Food network’s Dinners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri and reached an international following. Since then the team has continued to be a part of Los Angeles’ food culture and strives to showcase Southern California Hospitality.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
With no prior experience in owning and operating a business, the team had many obstacles and bumps along the way. Everything that a restaurant experiences with operations, from power failure, water and plumbing issues, insane rushes and slow rain days, to acts of god, wild customers, tragedy, and burn out, has taken place on numerous instances. An early advisor by the name of Michael Lao, pointed out that statistically we should have failed. We were friends, family, and in relationships. People of color who had no money, experience, or expertise. Half of the team were high school drop outs, with only one of us graduating a 4 year university. Trying to survive in the most volatile, competitive, and high failure rate industry. Michael also said that, “If one has legs, they could be a success. You guys have legs.”

Sadly Michael Lao passed away before we opened our restaurant, and had to figure out things on the fly. Luckily the help and guidance by our friends in the industry guided us through all the trappings and pitfalls they experienced. Andre Guerrero of the Oinkster, Jimmy Han of Beer Belly, and Rahul Marwah of Denco Family Inc. were some of our “Yoda” like sages that helped us along the way.

The Park’s Finest – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Park’s Finest was grown from 20 years of experience and family tradition. Introducing a Southeast Asian island take on the backyard boogie, The Park’s Finest’s core commitment encompasses satisfying appetites, contributing to the revitalization of our local communities, and fostering a business model that is engaged with the health and wellbeing of our employees.

Originally starting as a mobile catering services, The Park’s Finest has grown and now we are happy to invite you to our brick and mortar dine in location. Any time, any place, anywhere The Park’s Finest is always brining that Backyard Boogie!

You can sit down, pick up, we can drop off, or if you want to get fancy… the hood hangs out with you and feeds you anti-matter drenched with unicorn’s blood

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment thus far is celebrating our 5th anniversary as a restaurant this past January, Friday the 13th.

Initially we were utilizing catering to do renovations and construction but ran out of gigs after the holiday season. So we decided to first open to the public 1/13/12 for 4 hours from 6pm – 10pm. Jeff Miller from Thrillist called us asking questions and posted about us opening our doors to the public on their website. With a line of 100+ guests at the door, we sold out of food in 2.5 hours and used the proceeds to by drywall and more supplies. Since then we’ve been visited by musical legends like Stevie Wonder and his family, actors and comedians like the Grown Ups caste, celebrity chefs, professional athletes, and guests from around the world.

Being open this long to take care of so many people, is by far the most satisfying achievement to date.

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