Highlights of this program:
Diagnosis of fate – Shone Tran was able to extract a sense of urgency from the tragic news about his father.This sense of urgency is the basic inspiration Chicken meets rice off the ground.
start smalll – For Shone Tran, the idea of giving up everything to give it all is not an option. He and his co-founders took small steps to tackle the daunting task of starting a business.
best friends and business – The origin story of Chicken meets rice is what you have to hear, but probably still won’t believe. For Shone Tran and his best friend and co-founder, they don’t want to navigate the dangerous waters of business with anyone but each other.
***
There is a saying that goes well: “A drunken heart speaks to a sober heart”. Before co-founding his own fast-casual restaurant company, Shone Tran remembers a fateful night at a bar in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
“We walked past this Asian restaurant and went in and maybe ordered three or four different things, one of which was Chinese chicken rice,” recalls Shone Tran on the Restaurant Influencer Podcast hosted by Shawn P. Walchef. Cali Grill Media.
“When Jon (Sujarit) was with me, he kept telling me that he grew up eating the Thai version of this dish. I would tell him how I kept eating the Chinese and Vietnamese versions of this dish.”
Remember the phrase “intoxicated” mentioned earlier?
That night, Sober Hearts realized they had a great idea on their hands. They can actually execute because they have first-hand experience, a starting point for ideas, and the elixir of intoxicating courage.
Without any advertising and marketing, Chicken Meets Rice finally opened its doors.
“We actually had five people and we opened up,” Shone Tran said of their first day. “We thought we wouldn’t even sell 20 boxes that day because we had zero advertising. It was a soft opening. We were going to open at 11:30 that morning, no kidding, there were probably 30 people in line at 11. See what this new attraction is about.”
The excitement from the first day of Chicken Meets Rice was a testament to Tran that he and his best friend made the right decision to follow up on their conversation after a fun night in New York.
Now, in partnership with the famous 99 Ranch Market, Tran and Chicken Meets Rice looks forward to increasing its visibility and expanding into a national chain.
“Five years from now,” Shone Tran said, “Chicken Meets Rice will be a national franchise with at least 100 locations in the United States.”
This will be a good story.
***
Nominate a Restaurant Influencer – Do you know someone who is hyping it up on social media? Let us know by emailing influencers @calibbq.media or DM the @calibbqmedia team on social media.
About Restaurant Influencers:
Restaurant Influencers are brought to you by Toast, a powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales, and create a better guest experience.
Toast — Powering successful restaurants.Learn more about toast.
