FSR October 2022

OntheRise BY BEN COLEY

StreetSmarts Regional micro-chain Hawkers Asian Street Food has big plans to grow—and to redefine pan-Asian cuisine.

DURING THE CHAOTIC DAYS of Covid, restaurants had a choice to make, says Kaleb Harrell, cofounder and CEO of Hawkers Asian Street Food. The first option was to cut produc tion, implement lean operations, and “ limp through to the other side.” The second was to double down, maintain infrastructure, and use the pandemic as an opportunity to gain market share. Hawkers selected the latter, and now, the brand is reaping the rewards. In 2021, sales climbed, consumers returned to dining rooms, and for the first time in a few years, the concept was able to complete a more optimistic bud get. Entering this year, January was a rough start due to the spread of omi cron, but fromFebruary through at least July (the time of this writing), Hawkers exceeded its projections each month. This summer, the brand found itself hovering around a 30-plus percent sales growth year-over-year and raking in guest review scores of 4.8, up from 4.2 prior to the pandemic. “It’s been an interesting transitional year,” Harrell says. “Knock on wood, it feels like we’re finally out of the pan demic era. … [It] really took us from a cool emerging concept to what I would consider, and with all humility, an indus try-leading concept.”

EST. 2011 FOUNDERS: Kaleb Harrell, Allen Lo, Kin Ho, Wayne Yung HQ: Orlando, Florida UNITS: 13 CUISINE: Pan-Asian Street Food

IN ADDITION TO ENTRÉES, HAWKERS PEDDLES SMALL, DIM SUM–STYLE PLATES LIKE SICHUAN WONTONS.

Hawkers is the brainchild of four best friends—Harrell, Allen Lo, Wayne Yung, and Kin Ho—who traveled together, only to come home to Orlando and a less than-enticing dining scene. Lo in par ticular, who was born in Malaysia and serves as Hawkers’ brand chef, grew up in restaurants and always wondered why menus touted General Tso’s while fam ily sit-down meals were more authentic. The main goal was to bring that Asian authenticity to the greater public. The initial plan had nothing to do with scalability. The friends purchased a second-generation space in 2010 dur ing the Great Recession and opened with a 75-itemmenu. One week into the ven ture, there were lines around the build ing, which left the cofounders stuck in the kitchen without much time to expe

rience the restaurant as they originally envisioned. In fact, the overwhelmingly positive response led them to rethink long-term potential. “We enjoyed it the best we could,” Lo says. “We’d work through our day, we’d clean the kitchen, and we’d crack a cou ple of beers at the end and talk about, ‘Wow, what just happened? We just got our butts kicked today. How do we make this better?’ It was kind of organic. We were creating and streamlining a restau rant business. Before we knew it, we were like, ‘Hey, we have something special,’ and had the conversation: Do we want to give up our day jobs and put in the effort to grow this?” Hawkers owes its name to the many vendors in Singapore, Thailand, Malay sia, and other countries that hawk their

HAWKERS ASIAN STREET FARE

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