TaKorean Brings Fresh, From Scratch Fusion Concept to Fast Casual Landscape

TaKorean, a Korean taco grill concept, has stepped up to fill the fusion restaurant void. With over a decade of successful operations, the restaurant has grown from a local food truck to a chain of full-service restaurants, delivering lighter, fresher flavors in the form of build-your-own bowls and tacos that combine Korean flavors with Latin-American twists.

With just 45 items on the restaurant’s inventory, guests can tailor slaw, protein, add-on and topping choices to create hundreds of personalized meals built with cooked from scratch ingredients.

The restaurant was founded in 2010 after a bit of lighthearted eBay bidding led founder Mike Lenard to food truck ownership. For years, Mike had thought about developing a mobile vending business but had never fully conceptualized one. After purchasing this truck, he finally took the leap.

“I did a lot of research on what I thought was lacking in the DC and East Coast food scenes. In LA, they were doing Korean tacos, and I thought that was really interesting, so I started researching and recipe testing,” Mike said.”

Taking inspiration from a viral LA food truck called Kogi BBQ, opened by Chef Roy Choi in the mid-2000s, Mike looked to lighten up the traditional Korean street food concept to create an everyday option. With colorful, fresh and wholesome options, TaKorean provides the Korean flavors that guests crave in a balanced, exciting way.

“TaKorean is one of the few fusion concepts that actually tastes good and is consistent, and it’s one of the few options that is Korean-esque without being 100% Korean, and it hits really hard in terms of food preferences,” explained Eric Lenard, TaKorean’s director of Development.

Mexican and Asian cuisine represent the first and second most popular ethnic food categories in the U.S., respectively, according to Statista. Further, younger consumers are gravitating towards fusion cuisine, making it one of the most sought-after categories in the industry.

By carefully incorporating unique flavors, TaKorean can provide guests with a more authentic dining experience without intimidating those who have never tried traditional Korean flavors before. “Even though our flavors are probably not very familiar to some people, you can get behind them pretty quickly,” added Lukas Umana, president and COO of TaKorean.

TaKorean’s in-house culture tops off the experience by providing a refreshingly different dining experience. Restaurants with large output models and a less than satisfactory focus on customer experience are rampant within the dining landscape, and TaKorean has combated these practices all along.

“What these guys have created in terms of their workplace culture and service culture is really neat,” Eric explained. “My experience in Asia exposed me to a sense of genuine hospitality, and you have that at TaKorean.”