I AM KOREAN AMERICAN

What does your company do?

We change people’s lives one stomach at a time in our tiger-striped food truck. The usual suspects are the notorious korean tacos, burritos, chompers and chosun bowls.

More importantly, our goal is to promote Korean cuisine and culture and raise the profile of the Korean community worldwide.

When and how did your company start?

Korilla BBQ launched on October 18, 2010. Before this, my college buddy and I opened up a fro-yo joint called Mochi-Yo in April 2009. Since then, I’ve always been passionate about the food biz and wanted to pursue a more long term venture than the trendy fro-yo biz.

Korilla started with a question I asked myself: who doesn’t love Korean BBQ? I figured the main issue was accessibility of Korean cuisine in so many levels, all of which could easily be squared away with food trucks!

What's been one of the hardest challenges in running a business?

Separating friends from business. That is, in contrast to the maxim of “don’t mix friends with business”, I started this business with my boys and walking the thin line between business mode and friend mode is a tricky path to navigate. But I wouldn’t have it any other way because we’re all going to make it together.

Sure it’s hard waking up early and dealing with the unexpected but that and everything else is related to money/profits which for me is not important in comparison to relationships.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

Working with my boys and knowing that tomorrow we’ll be better at what we do.

Advice for people looking to start up their own business?

Shoot first, ask questions later.