How doing things differently in a family business can result in success | Peter Cho | TEDxPortland
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares his journey of transforming a hidden garage space into a family-run restaurant called Han Oak in Portland. He discusses the philosophy of 'place first', prioritizing the environment over business models, and the importance of community. He reflects on his past in the high-pressure restaurant industry, the impact of his mother's illness, and the decision to create a space that combines family life with a unique dining experience. The narrative highlights the challenges and rewards of balancing personal values with entrepreneurial aspirations.
Takeaways
- 🏠 The speaker and his wife run a unique business called Hon Oak, which is both their home and their restaurant, located in a hidden courtyard in Northeast Portland.
- 👨👩👦👦 Their business operates with a strong family-oriented approach, integrating their personal lives with their professional ones, even having their children present in the restaurant.
- 🍽️ Despite initial struggles and unconventional beginnings, they have managed to create a community around their home, turning regular customers into friends and family.
- 🌱 The concept of 'place first' was pivotal in their journey, emphasizing the importance of the environment they create over the business model they pursue.
- 👨🍳 The speaker's background includes a significant tenure as a chef in high-profile restaurants in New York, which provided a foundation in culinary excellence but also led to personal epiphanies about work-life balance.
- 🏆 His mentor's nomination for the James Beard Awards and the subsequent realizations about the sacrifices made by chefs in the industry influenced his approach to his own business.
- 🚑 A personal health crisis within the family, with the speaker's mother being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, led to a reevaluation of priorities and a move back to Portland.
- 🤝 The business was started with the support of friends and family, and the space was found through a serendipitous connection on Craigslist, highlighting the importance of community and collaboration.
- 👶 The restaurant's operations are designed to accommodate the needs of the family, including being open only a few days a week and creating a supportive environment for staff.
- 🏡 The physical space of Hon Oak, once a real estate developer's family home, has been transformed into a place that combines the speaker's passion for cooking with his desire to be present for his family.
- 📈 The speaker emphasizes the importance of hard work, learning, and creating a space where one wants to be, suggesting that these are the foundations for a successful and fulfilling business.
Q & A
What is the name of the place owned by the speaker and his wife?
-The place owned by the speaker and his wife is called Hon Oak.
Why does the speaker describe the location of Hon Oak as challenging to find?
-The speaker describes the location as challenging because it is situated in a hidden courtyard, accessible only through an unmarked set of doors at the back of a parking lot in Northeast Portland.
What is unique about the business model of Hon Oak?
-Hon Oak's unique business model is that it operates as a family home and a restaurant, with the business being an integral part of their home life, and the home being the center of their business.
How often was Hon Oak initially open when it first started?
-Hon Oak was initially open only two days a week when it first started.
What was the speaker's background before starting Hon Oak?
-Before starting Hon Oak, the speaker had a background in cooking, working his way up from a fry cook to head chef in various restaurants, including a Michelin-starred establishment and the Breslin in the Ace Hotel.
What significant life event led the speaker to reevaluate his career and move back to Portland?
-The speaker's mother being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer was the significant life event that led him to reevaluate his career and move back to Portland to be with her.
What is the 'Place First' philosophy mentioned by the speaker?
-The 'Place First' philosophy is the idea that the environment and community created by a business should be the priority, rather than the business model itself. It emphasizes creating a space where people feel at home and valued.
How did the speaker's wife influence the concept of Hon Oak?
-The speaker's wife influenced the concept of Hon Oak by suggesting a collaborative workspace, a Test Kitchen, and a gathering place for friends and family, which led to the idea of a family restaurant that is also a home.
What was the initial reaction of the speaker when he first saw the location for Hon Oak?
-The speaker was initially skeptical and thought it might be a scam when he first saw the location for Hon Oak, as it was listed on Craigslist and seemed too good to be true.
How does the speaker describe the evolution of Hon Oak?
-The speaker describes the evolution of Hon Oak as organic and work in progress, allowing it to grow as much as their family can handle, with plans for future developments like a tiki bar and a ceramic studio.
What advice does the speaker give to those starting a new business?
-The speaker advises new business owners to put in the time and do the work to build a strong foundation, learn the right way, possibly by learning the wrong way to discover their own path, and to build a place where they want to be, which others will likely want to be part of as well.
Outlines
🏠 Building a Home and Business in Portland
The speaker shares the unique journey of establishing a restaurant called Hon Oak in Northeast Portland, which is located in a hidden courtyard accessible through an unmarked door. The restaurant is not only a place for dining but also the family home, blending business with personal life. Initially, the place was open only two days a week with friends and family as staff. The speaker discusses the challenges of balancing family life, including raising children, with running a business and the philosophy of 'place first' in their approach to creating a community-oriented space rather than a traditional restaurant.
🍽️ From Michelin-Starred Chef to Family-First Entrepreneur
The speaker recounts his past as a chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York, where he experienced the intense and repetitive nature of high-end culinary work. He describes the realization that many chefs, while achieving excellence, often apologized for the personal sacrifices required by their careers. This led to a significant life change when the speaker's mother was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, prompting him to move back to Portland to support her. The desire to start a family and the birth of his child further influenced his decision to create a different kind of restaurant that prioritizes family and community, leading to the establishment of Hon Oak.
🌿 Creating a Family-Centric Restaurant Experience
The speaker and his wife decided to create a restaurant that would serve as a family home and a gathering place, focusing on a collaborative workspace and a Test Kitchen. They aimed to establish a business that would allow the speaker to be present as a father while still pursuing his passion for cooking. The concept evolved into a family restaurant with a flexible schedule, a welcoming environment for burnt-out cooks, and a rejection of the traditional hierarchical kitchen structure. The speaker emphasizes the importance of finding a location that would support this vision, which they eventually found through a Craigslist listing and the generosity of a real estate developer named Kevin Kavanagh.
🏆 Prioritizing Community Over Commercial Success
The speaker concludes by reflecting on the growth of Hon Oak as a work in progress that has organically evolved with the family's capabilities. They prioritize creating an enjoyable environment over business expansion, with plans for a tiki bar and a ceramic studio. Despite the long hours and the grind of running a business, the speaker finds fulfillment in being able to balance family life with his work. He shares that the recognition and awards the restaurant has received are not the goal but a byproduct of creating a home for the community. The speaker offers advice for new business owners, emphasizing the importance of time, learning, and building a place where one wants to be, concluding with a heartfelt thank you to his mother.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Hidden courtyard
💡Live-work divide
💡Community
💡Place first
💡Gastropub
💡Family-first philosophy
💡Michelin starred
💡James Beard Awards
💡Ergo
💡Potty training
💡Culinary excellence
Highlights
The owners of Hon Oak share their unique restaurant experience, which is hidden in a courtyard in Northeast Portland.
The restaurant is located in a converted garage space, which also serves as the family's dining room and open kitchen.
The business operates with a 'place first' philosophy, prioritizing the environment over the business model.
The owners initially struggled with the concept of calling their establishment a restaurant due to the expectations it implies.
The staff at Hon Oak are primarily friends and family, creating a strong sense of community.
The owners' children are part of the restaurant's daily operations, adding a homely touch to the business.
The speaker's background includes a Michelin-starred restaurant and a stint as an executive chef, which contrasts with the current family-oriented business.
The speaker's mother's health battle influenced the decision to start a business that prioritized family.
The concept of Hon Oak was developed as a Korean gastropub, but the approach has evolved to be more family and community-centric.
The restaurant's location was found through a serendipitous Craigslist post by a real estate developer.
The space was transformed from a family home to a restaurant, with an emphasis on being a sanctuary for the owners and staff.
The restaurant has grown organically, with the owners only doing as much as their family can handle.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of creating a place where everyone feels at home, rather than just focusing on the food.
Awards and recognition are seen as byproducts of creating a homely environment rather than the primary goal.
The speaker shares four pieces of advice for starting a new business, focusing on time, learning, and creating a desired place.
The restaurant's success is measured by the community it has built rather than traditional business metrics.
Transcripts
oh boy morning thank you so my wife and
I own a little place called hon Oak hey
okay well for those of you have it
you're gonna want to punch in our
address into Google Maps because it's
gonna drop you off in the middle of the
street in Northeast Portland now this is
where you have to trust me that parking
lot go to the back of that parking lot
and go through the unmarked set of doors
and our hidden courtyard opens up
there's some scooters and stuff you got
to watch out for you know they're all
booby traps then you go through another
door and down a hallway and you're in
our garage space our dining room and
open kitchen so these days I'm holding
our 10 month old Frankie we call him
Frank the tank I got our like we're him
in an Ergo and I'm in the corner making
dumpling somewhere my wife's son is
chasing around Elliot you could see he's
not wearing clothes because he's potty
training and three years old and thinks
he's Captain Underpants see here so you
might have noticed by now this is our
family home
our business is our home and our home is
our business it just happens to be our
restaurant although I've struggled to
call it a restaurant since the very
beginning because I think it brings with
it a lot of expectations we couldn't
live up to in the first year or so we
were only open two days a week and our
staff were all our friends and family
they had full-time jobs but were sort of
coming and helping us bailing me out on
their weekends but you know we were just
trying to figure it out navigate our
live work sort of you know divide find
our place among all the amazing
restaurants here in Portland and it was
a significant time because that first
year Elliot had just turned one and he
was you know learning to walk but like
really falling a lot and even now when
we hire new staff I tell him yeah you're
a cook you're a server but I got like
kids running around man your babysitter
but the result is truly a community
built around our home our regulars have
become our friends and our friends have
become part of the family when we open
our doors it's this sense of community
that really is about place more than a
restaurant place first so place first is
the idea that I stumbled upon during our
journey it's come to form everything we
do how we choose to live work play and
evolve the priority was put on the
environment we create not the business
model we'd pursue but that model that
method placed first is contrarian to how
one starts a business right because
typically you figure out what you want
to do then you figure out how well we
were pretty dead set on the how I think
we're still figuring out the what this
is a little opposite from my background
so-so or my training anyways my a little
background in 2001 I graduated from the
U of O I followed my brother out to New
York he promised me free rent while I
figured out what the hell I was gonna do
with my life that gave me I think to
three years to bum around and during
that time I found an interest in cooking
and I thought you know I'll either drop
a bunch of money back in school go into
further debt or maybe I'll just walk in
somewhere and try and get a job
dishwashing I'll work my way up so I was
actually on my way downtown I was gonna
enroll in cooking school when I just
sort of on a whim made a stop I took a
little side street quiet corner in the
West Village I walked into this small
restaurant cute little spotted pig
hanging from the window and I asked for
a job but what I didn't realize is that
I had basically fallen ass-backwards
into one of the most high-profile
restaurants in the city in the country I
think and I didn't get that dishwashing
job I was a fry
and we sold a lot of burgers so a lot of
fries but before I knew it I had gone
from fry to line cook line cook to
sous chef and sous chef to head chef in
almost 10 years I had been chewed up and
spit out of the Michelin starred meat
grinder the last five of those 10 years
I was the executive chef of the Breslin
in the rcs Hotel now so a restaurant
that's open breakfast lunch and dinner
we had 24-hour room service I think we
did like you know five six seven hundred
covers a day seven days a week 365 days
a year it's a lot like Groundhog's Day
you wake up with this like foreboding
sense of deja vu it's the same damn day
over and over again but you wake up and
you like try something different right
you figure out your angles you hope for
a better result you find your small
successes but you got to like take your
losses because for me at that time it
wasn't about the passion for food and
cooking it was more about the ritual and
repetition but if you do it the right
way the reward for that grind is
excellence and that level of excellence
was my cooking foundation it also
awarded my chef my mentor a nomination
for the James Beard Awards so now this
is the Oscars of the food world right so
the highest honor in our field and all
the best chefs in the country come to
New York and they all you know walk the
red carpet and I got to sit in the
audience and root for her but I sat
there and I noticed something chef after
chef walking up on stage they would say
thank you but then they would apologize
they apologized for their time away from
home I'm sorry for the long hours I'm
sorry for the stress I'm sorry for
putting my career above family and I
started to hear the apologies more than
the thanks and gratitude but it was
definitely my own guilt that made me
hear it because for ten years I had
worked through every
and miss most special occasions and and
my only trips back here to Portland
weren't to see my parents it was for
work this was an epiphany for me and I
remembered it so clearly when I got that
phone call mom had stage 4 breast cancer
it flipped my world upside down my
career in an instant seemed over and
everything I worked for immediately took
a backseat so we pack up everything and
we move immediately to be with her and
between visits to the doctor's and
chemotherapy I tried to like piece
together some like form of my cooking
career but the move had really like
forced me to to push away from that old
restaurant grind the next couple years
the treatments improved mom's health and
while it's a battle she fights every day
son and I were eager to start our next
chapter because just as we started to
get settled and comfortable in Portland
we got pregnant
another life flipper
right so naturally what do I do I panic
and I'm like okay I'm gonna start a
restaurant cuz that's smart right but uh
but like that's all I knew and I had the
plan because with all the advice had
gotten in all my years of experience I I
I knew that this was gonna work so
develop a concept
Portland's first Korean gastropub I
think it can still work right it'll kill
so care funding so maybe do a elaborate
Kickstarter or you know find a celebrity
investor tech millionaire or anybody
like anybody with fu money cuz you don't
you don't want to like lose your life
saving
and then and then make sure it can scale
because fast-casual is the future right
open one in every corner of the city you
sell it off for millions and you ride
off into the sunset but these methods
weren't working for us and every listing
we saw really just gave me that sense of
deja vu
it's that restaurant life PTSD and that
maximum place first kept coming back to
us and rather than setting up to open a
restaurant it was my wife who sort of
smacked me over the head and said why
can't we have both why can't we find a
collaborative workspace a Test Kitchen a
gathering place for our friends and
family for once can we have a yard a
garden with a new baby we barely left
the house and so we would really try and
bring the world to us and we were
determined to figure out a way that I
could be a father first but still be a
chef and this is how we were gonna do it
you know she couldn't do the traditional
anyways that's not really her training
she's an incredible artist and let's
face it the real creative talent in the
family my true contrarian northstar so
now our approach to the restaurant was
going to be different a true family
restaurant one word we'd only be open a
couple days a week because I I was still
accompanying my mom to her treatment
when where our family would be ingrained
and everyday sanctuary for burnt out
cooks I sort of created a safe place for
the biggest burnout yes that's me
and where the traditional French Brigade
kitchen hierarchy was kind of thrown out
the door and where our staff can also
benefit from our family first philosophy
and most importantly I get to cook with
my mom so now this sounds like the
Promised Land right so where are we
going to find it
Craigslist
[Laughter]
so it turns out there's a real estate
developer who found himself in a
position to sort of bridge the gap
between family and his business and he
puts it online on Craigslist and son
finds it and she's like okay we're going
and she's dragged me kicking and
screaming I'm fighting her tooth and
nail and I tell her it's one of those
Craigslist scams it can't be for real
and then we arrived in the middle of the
street looking for this damn parking lot
so we walked through the doors and we
revel in this sense of discovery this
sort of hidden urban oasis and who do we
find standing there in the middle of the
courtyard
Kevin Kavanagh
[Applause]
it was a brief meeting you know he's a
busy guy we exchanged some emails we had
a you know firm handshake but after a
hug that really sealed the deal he just
like handed us the keys and he said you
know we'll figure out the lease later
like don't worry about it yeah and we
believed him because you know we saw
this place and we're like there's no way
we can like walk away from this we're
gonna take it it's three times our
budget and and and you know we thought
about you know our restaurant how - we
didn't have a concept we had no money we
borrowed from sons family and I maxed
out all my credit cards you know a good
location we were like hidden people
still can't find us today and whether it
can scale or not we didn't know if we
can even get the place open so what was
once his family's home became our family
home and what we have built as Han Oak
it's still a work in progress though and
we've really allowed it to grow
organically we've only done as much as
our family can handle but for now having
fun as the goal with plans of
summer-long tiki bars we're building out
a little ceramic studio right now we
cook but the door is open to evolution
and as any new business owner or even
new parent knows the long days well the
long hours have gotten much longer and
the days and years are getting shorter
and shorter
I find myself back in a grind but in a
new way because to be able to step off
the hot line in the middle of service to
witness Elliott's first steps to be able
to brush the kids teeth and read them a
book and put them to bed every night to
be able to close a restaurant for every
holiday and every special occasion
that's what gets me out of bed every
morning the priority is put on the
environment we create not the business
model we pursue the priority was to find
our place and build it
because even though we're a restaurant
right now it's about so much more than
just the food while we've been honored
with the feedback the recognition and
the awards were never really the goal
they're a byproduct of creating our home
so now when people ask me what to keep
in mind when starting a new business my
list is pretty different from the one
that was shared with me but I always
give four pieces of advice to those
going out on their own you have to put
in the time and do the work that's your
foundation and then find somewhere to
learn the right way you can even spend
some time in a place to learn the wrong
way because that will help you discover
your own way and then build a place
where you want to be hopefully there's a
good chance others will want to be there
too
so we couldn't have dreamed of being
where we are today I'm like I'm standing
here at TEDx Portland which is the most
amazing thing what am I doing here
you know we just we didn't want to build
this restaurant we just wanted to build
your favorite place where everyone would
feel at home and we're thank you would
be greater than I'm sorry it's mom thank
you
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