We were lucky to catch up with John Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

John, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

It all started with my mom, who at the time owned “College Roadhouse” along with another business owner. Tram and I were living in South Korea. We were teaching and traveling all over Asia. One day, my mother called me up and mentioned that whenever Tram and I were ready to come back, she could use our help. At that time, Tram was pregnant and a lot of my contracts for teaching were at their end, so we decided it was time to come back to Austin. When we got to College Roadhouse, Tram and I put our minds together on how we can market the place so that we can make it thrive and make it one of the coolest places to go to in Austin. Luckily, my mom has an open mind and went along with it. Within a year, we turned the once dying restaurant into the restaurant that everyone knows. So the question, “Where did the name Seoulju come from?” Actually, 3 reasons why, first, I was born in Seoul. Second, we wanted a place to signify that we were a Korean restaurant. Finally, Tram and I wanted to have a play-on-word of “Soju” which is the most popular alcohol in South Korea. Luckily after doing a lot of research, we decided to have the name Seoulju which to this day, I’m surprised that name was never picked up by anyone before us!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As mentioned previously, I got into this industry when my mother called me while my wife and I were in South Korea. What I didn’t mention previously is that my mother was suffering from physical and emotional pain. I, who is the oldest son, could not allow this to happen, and with the support of my loving wife who also had the mindset to not let my mom suffer, we knew we had to come back.

Seoulju likes to set itself apart from other Korean restaurants as far as “Traditional” goes. We still serve traditional plates like Bulgogi, Dakgalbi, and many others, however, we are always thinking of ways to come up with fresh new ideas to spin the old ways around.

There are many things that Tram and I are proud of when it comes to the restaurant! Probably one of the biggest things is seeing my mom not be stressed that her legacy was not lost. Another big one is the fact that we can give back to the community whether it is local or international. Seoulju has donated to many causes including towards Ukrain, Uvalde, and many local ones like feeding the hungry during the big freeze and raising money for the animal shelter. Seoulju is not only a restaurant but it is a medium to help others.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

I’m typically the type of person who does not stress out a whole lot. However, when COVID hit and every restaurant in America had to close…that was brutal. I’ve been in the food industry for a long time and I’ve seen days when restaurants I worked at were slow BUT to see absolute emptiness….that was scary!

Around June 2020, I have to say the stress was at its all-time high! The landlord wanted the entire 3 months back pay, we needed to pay the rent that Kitchen United Mix and Seoulju agreed upon, AND Tram and I were closing on a home!

I remember sitting down at the table with Tram and breaking down..asking her how we are going to pull through? Luckily for me, I have a wonderful cool-headed wife who had the idea to have a call for help from our Seoulju community. I don’t know what she said but for the next three weeks, we couldn’t handle the volume of Togo orders, haha and if our guests couldnt get food, they were donating money and/or buying gift cards to make sure we were staying afloat.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe reputation is huge! From the beginning, Tram and I believed reputation needed to be at the forefront of our business.

Tram focused on our reputation using social media while I focused on our reputation at the restaurant. In fact, I always tell everyone that we are a “dynamic duo”…Tram brings people in and I bring people back haha.

Continuing on building a reputation, I highly enjoy and love being at the restaurant 100% of the time. I have this mindset that if my guests see the owner there and talk to them, they will appreciate that even more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.seouljuatx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seouljuatx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seouljuatx
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/seouljuatx
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/seoulju-austin-3

Image Credits
Hong Nga