Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Pak
Hi Aaron, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My culinary experience much like others started at home with my mother. My parents, who couldn’t speak English and had very little started their journey in the American Dream. My mother cooked at home and worked as well. She enjoyed the diverse culinary experiences living in Orlando. We would travel sometimes an hour if she heard of a great venue. Because of their hard work ethic, many times I stayed home alone and had to learn to cook for myself. I wasn’t very proficient; however, this was the start of my own curiosities with food.
I lived in California for about 10 years and got to enjoy many of the cuisines from Northern to Southern California. I got to enjoy many Asian foods and ultimately really enjoyed sushi. Many restaurants would fuse different ethnic foods like Thai and Sushi etc. We attempted to fuse with korean and sushi in that many of the rolls we do today have some sort of spice.
Alright, 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?
Going into business for yourself isn’t ever a smooth road. I met several other restaurant owners and many of them described their love life as non existent and to be prepared for romantic hardships. Also, economic recessions have always been somewhat of a plague for us. First thing to go during recessions are disposable income goods such as dining out.
Covid changed the landscape of how we serve and permanently changed our dining hours to dinner only.
Staffing has always been an issue in this industry and turnover is relatively high in the hospitality industry. Many also feel entitled to high wages but not the work ethic to back it up.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a small restaurant and we have two kitchens. One for sushi at the sushi bar and the back kitchen where we serve Korean food. It can be a challenge because some people in the parties don’t consume sushi so the timing can be slight off when trying to serve food simultaneously.
I am a jack of all trades and fill the needs of the restaurant. I do all the jobs and fill in the holes when needed. This year I’ve even washed dishes for several months.
We strive to make people feel satiated and happy after their meals and the biggest compliments to us is that people don’t feel lethargic and the consistency is dependable.
We love supporting Audubon Park and have enjoyed making it our home.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the diversity of foods and different events that happen around Orlando. There’s always a great place to eat but you just gotta know where. There are theme parks if you’re in the mood and the weather is great minus the summer months.
The growth rate and the infrastructure of our city has caught up. Traffic can be much improved. Also the diversity of food isn’t always centralized so you may to travel for good food.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.sushilolas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sushi_lolas?igsh=ZGlieDVscGR6ejNr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19aWzg8CXo/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
Aaron Pak
