Today we’d like to introduce you to Chan Park.
Chan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
About 6 years ago, I was reading some article, in Korean, about Korean ramen in US. The article was saying that Korean ramen is popular in California. At that time, and present, I also own and operate K-BBQ restaurant in Dallas and I start researching and studying about Korean style ramen and let my employees to try out. All of my employees loved it. Also, I looked around the Dallas area if anyone is doing Korean style ramen restaurant, but no one does it, yet. So, I started more research and study to get good recipes for years whenever I have time to practice.
Most of my employees were Hispanics, so I was looking for a place where Hispanics and, kinda mixture races area. Finally, I found one empty place with some of restaurant equipment’s installed, where we are located now. So that is how I started Pogri Ramen.
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?
First half of the year, it was a very struggling business. I think, I did almost everything I can do. Like giving samples, free drinks, etc.
After I put some promotions on Groupon, people started to notice my restaurant. That was not really helpful. People who use Groupon, they just want discounted food and not coming back but leave not that good reviews. But after I started delivery with UberEats, people started orders from almost anywhere, from uptown to Irving, Addison, Carrollton, North Dallas, etc., Then people started to talk about my ramen and the business picked up. And still, new customers are coming everyday along with my regular customers.
Pogri Ramen – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in Korean Ramen, it is totally different than Japanese style ramen. We have now 7 different styles ramen by meats. The soup is based on beef broth for all my menus and meats are my specialty because I smoke meats so I can get more flavors in the ramen.
The soup and noodles are all same but has different style of meats. Also, you can choose vegetables you like, it is just like when you order pizza. That impressed most of my customers.
Just to let you know that, Korean style ramen is not like my ramen. It is usually noodle, soup and egg with some vegetables. Putting meats in the ramen is not usual in Korea, but I create these menus because I researched in my K-BBQ restaurant about what kind of meats are most popular, chose several meats, and test ramen with them. So, still in Dallas, no one does same ramen as I do.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It is still a new kind of Korean ramen. I would say fusion Korean ramen. When my customers are telling me my ramen “Amazing”, “Very delicious” and leaving 5 stars and good review on the internet, that makes me very proud of myself and it feels like all my hard work paid off.
Contact Info:
- Address: 11055 Dennis Rs. #20
Dallas, TX 75229 - Website: www.pogriramen.net
- Phone: 469-917-8202
- Email: pogriramen01@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/pogriramen
- Facebook: facebook.com/pogriramennoodle
Image Credit:
Euisoon Lee
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