Today we’d like to introduce you to Keegan Fong.
Keegan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My background is actually deeply rooted in marketing, and I’ve worked within the apparel side of the action sports industry for over ten years.
Most recently, I helped start a leading surf apparel brand, Vissla (https://www.vissla.com/), and eyewear brand, D’Blanc (https://www.dblanc.com/). I led the digital and marketing strategy for over five years until my recent semi-departure (I’m still consulting for them).
Prior to that, I worked for an apparel brand called Insight out of Australia which was more rooted in fashion along with surf and skate. My mom’s dream has always been to have her own restaurant and serve her original Shanghainese influenced recipes. As I grew older, her dream slowly became a dream of mine too.
Growing up, we always had friends over, entertaining them with food and drinks while introducing them to Chinese food they’ve never experienced before. It wasn’t until I moved away for college that I realized I couldn’t find my mom’s cooking anywhere else and that it was unique to her. Whenever my sister or I would come back home from school, we’d request the same things for her to cook for us.
Soon enough, all our friends started to do the same. That’s when I realized we had something unique and something people craved, all while being entertained inside her home. Fast forward to four years ago, and we had the opportunity to become a food vendor at a local LA event called Parachute Market, held at my uncle’s store, JF Chen.
I told my uncle to give my family the chance to put together a pop-up noodle business in 30 days to debut at Parachute Market. I called my best friend/designer, Peter Wilday, and he built us a contemporary take on an old Chinese rickshaw cart which became the Woon mascot and order counter.
My family got together and put together a mobile kitchen, figuring it out along the way. We sold out in three hours the first day of the event. We had to run around all the different Chinese markets around LA to refill for the next day where we sold out again.
From there we were invited to participate in many more pop-ups and events around LA, but only on the weekends when my family and I weren’t working our full-time jobs.
Namely, our good friends had a creative studio on Pico in Koreatown called Pico Studio, and we’d pop up in the back alleyway every other month selling noodles while people brought their own booze and DJ’s kept the party alive. Fast forward to present day, and I’m 30 days deep into construction after buying an existing restaurant in Filipinotown just across the 101 from Silverlake to convert into the first Woon restaurant.
It took almost a year and a half to raise money and find a space. But once again, here I am… I have no fricking idea what I just got myself into, and there’s no turning back now….
Has it been a smooth road?
Is there such thing as a smooth road when trying to start your own business? I highly doubt it. It’s been a long year and a half from the time my partner at the time and I finished the business plan to now. The struggles are endless, but I’ll just mention the big ones.
Raising money is a major one. Nobody ever teaches you in school how to go about raising money to start a business. And it’s not just finding people to dish over cash… it’s all the things you have to prepare for that. Then once you get there, it’s all the things that have to happen after you get someone to agree to giving you money.
Luckily, I have a couple of good friends who have faith in me and want to be a part of this wild ride with me. However, it’s still not over.. I’m still trying to get an SBA loan which is another beast and struggle in itself. The backend technicalities of structuring the business was a big struggle for us.
It’s hard to plan for the future, but also try not to get too far ahead of yourself. We wanted to structure this business for the long haul, but that also costs more time and complications. So, it’s really making those tough decisions on whether you want to deal with the issues now or later.
Lastly, finding a fricking restaurant space in LA right now is probably the most challenging thing next to avoiding traffic.
For some reason, I decided to open a restaurant just as everyone else in the world has decided to move to LA and make this city the new food mecca. It’s extremely competitive, and we all knew the real estate isn’t too affordable right now. 🙁
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Woon was a noodle cart pop up now turned homestyle Chinese restaurant. We serve all of my mom’s original Chinese recipes from stir-fried Shanghai style chow mein noodles to braised pork belly baos. The menu is very minimal… highlighting about eight-ten items along with beer and wine. We’d like to think Woon is more than just a restaurant, but also a brand.
We’ve strived to create a place where we can invite people into our space and entertain them with food, drinks, and music, just like we would at home. Beyond that, we want people to feel a part of our family and Woon brand. I think what makes us unique is that it’s a fast-casual concept that really comes from the heart. It’s family run but combined with a more design-focused experience.
Our plan is to stick around for a while, not really chase what the trends currently are. It’s easy to stay caught up with where the Instagram ‘likes’ are, but I think it’s more sustainable and also more of a challenge to build something to last and eventually scale.
But… you have to walk before you can run, so for now, I’ll just focus on opening the doors without any major hiccups.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think Los Angeles is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s such a diverse city, and there’s an opportunity for anyone to find success. Obviously, there’s a huge population which means a huge market. That also makes it is so tough to start a business here, especially a restaurant. It’s extremely competitive which means real estate is high, and you’re fighting for market share. Not to mention the city is so spread out, so it’s hard to get cross-town traffic.
Additionally, we all know Los Angeles is one of the most strict cities. They make it seem almost impossible to open a restaurant in this city… especially if you’re underfunded. We initially sought out spaces without existing kitchens and quickly realized it’s way too tough and expensive to do that. The restaurant industry is already one with very slim margins, so it makes it even tougher when the city requires hurdles you have to jump over which eventually increase the startup costs.
However, I always believe in the fact that if you build a quality product and brand that people believe in, they will go out of their way for it. I always knew that if we could open this first location and succeed in Los Angeles, then we could succeed in almost any other city if we are ever lucky enough to open a second location.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2920 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90026
- Website: woonkitchen.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woonkitchen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woonkitchen
Image Credit:
Alex Gao, Taylor Scalise, Danny Duran, Morgnar
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
Evelyn
September 15, 2019 at 02:48
It looks delicious . I’m going to gather up a group of my friends and we’re all going to check out the restaurant I love noodles And hidden gem restaurants . I seen this restaurant shown on TV SoCal running on empty .