Starting a Restaurant
It is not every day that you find a restaurant that offers quick, fresh, and affordable meals. This is exactly what restaurant owner Inseok Jang wants to achieve with his restaurant, Pokémen. The restaurant offers Hawaiian style poké bowls along with ramen bowls. The unique, delicious cuisine and quick, friendly service let to it becoming a local favorite. Jang used this popularity to expand his business and open another location.
In order to make sure both locations were preforming perfectly, Jang left the Auburn location in the hands of Eric Choi, his brother and accomplished businessman. Choi has been in the restaurant business for 6 years before taking over the reigns at Pokémen. It has always been a dream of Choi to own and operate a restaurant. He loves to cook and believes that a restaurant should follow three simple rules: 1. Serve high quality, fresh food 2. Always leave the customers happy 3. Get the food in the customer’s hands as quickly as possible. This is to ensure that every customer leaves the restaurant with a smile on their face and planning to come back again.
What Makes a Restaurant Work?
There are many things that make a restaurant work. Some things work better for different restaurants than others. Choi believes that in order for his business to thrive, he needs to keep things simple. Pokémen prides itself on serving fresh, delicious food, while keeping wait times down. Choi told FetchMe that even during a lunch rush, the maximum wait time is only 10 minutes.
To achieve this type of speed, Pokémen offers a simple but still diverse menu. The menu consists of 9 different types of proteins, 15 types of mixes, and 9 types of sauces. This diversity allows for over 1,000 different bowl combinations while still keeping the menu simple and the customers’ wait times down.
Another important factor is serving fresh and delicious food. Pokémen keeps all of the food fresh and ready to serve without having premade bowls. Every bowl prepared is done so as the customer orders. Customers can even watch their food being made. This allows for a fun and easy dining experience for everyone. According to Choi, some customers come into the restaurant almost 5 times a week!
More About Pokémen
Pokémen believes that a positive customer experience is very important. This means the staff treats everyone that enters the restaurant like family. Pokémen offers a friendly, fun, and clean eating experience for all. This is done while still serving quick and tasty food. This type of service is greatly appreciated by their ever-growing customer base. Along with word of mouth, Pokémen also has a FetchMe made website pokemenopelika.com and a Facebook page to help grow their customer base.
Choi tells FetchMe that they plan to further expand in the near future. One of the main changes Pokémen wants to see is an expanded menu which would add more options for customers to add to their poké and ramen bowls. They also want to add a catering menu to appeal to larger events and orders. There are also plans to add more Pokémen locations across Alabama and even into other states in the South.
The restaurant is properly following COVID-19 protocols inside. The everything is regularly sanitized and masks must be worn by customers and staff. Pokémen offers disposable masks at the door for anyone who does not have a mask. The kitchen is cleaned daily and the restaurant is kept spotless by staff to ensure customer and staff safety.
How to Order Pokémen
Pokemen is located at 2701 Frederick Rd in Opelika. The restaurant is open for dine-in, however they also offer to-go and delivery options. Everything offered on the menu is available for delivery. They are open Monday through Saturday from 11am to 8pm. Pokemen offers great deals and prices on everything offered in the restaurant.
As a proud partner of Pokémen, you can order for delivery through Pokémen’s Website, the FetchMe website, or our mobile app. FetchMe offers for delivery and various deals on many restaurants including Pokémen and more!
Get all the information you need and more from our friends at Auburn-Opelika Tourism