Chef Chatter

How this single dish fueled growth at Rooster & Rice

Tommy Charoen, executive chef and co-founder of the chicken and rice-focused Thai concept Rooster & Rice, shares how his simple menu became a Bay-area sensation.

April 27, 2021

By Tommy Charoen, executive chef and co-founder, Rooster & Rice

It's not exactly news that fast-casual concepts are all the rage, but how many of those concepts are both nutritious and full of flavor? At Rooster & Rice, our San Francisco-based organic Thai concept with 10 locations, we developed a fast, healthy and streamlined model that gives customers an alternative option to traditional fast-casual meals.

I was born into a restaurant family in Thailand, so cooking is in my blood.Although I majored in computer science in college, I quickly discovered that my life's passion is cooking food. My culinary training began in Las Vegas at the luxurious Venetian Hotel and Casino. Then I relocated to California to work as corporate executive chef of the Straits Restaurant Group, where I met my current Rooster & Rice partner, Bryan Lew. Together, we had the idea to create a truly unique, simple, healthy and clean food concept based on Asian recipes.

We wanted to invent a menu that focuses primarily on the fan-favorite Thai chicken and rice dish, Khao Mun Gai. I was inspired by the chicken and rice recipes of my mother, who recently passed away from cancer, and I drew on my Thai heritage to create the Rooster & Rice menu, which combines Eastern world cultural flavors and Western culinary traditions. When Bryan and I sat down to write the Rooster & Rice menu, we made it a goal to finish it in one hour, and I think that this has truly been the key to our success. The result was a simple but innovative four-dish menu all inspired by Thai chicken and rice. We were determined to focus on that one dish and make it great, something few other fast-casual concepts have done. But in our case, simple doesn't mean bland, and it certainly doesn't mean playing it safe.

After we opened our doors, we quickly established a growing and devoted customer base and our streamlined, digestible menu really resonated. This model has also helped us to thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic because our operational costs are low and customers know that they can rely on us for a consistently well-executed dish that they have come to love and crave. During the pandemic especially, customers are looking for healthier options but also something that can be prepared quickly and is designed for takeout. Our menu is basic in its foundation but we also have a variety of options that customers can use to customize their dish. We also rotate a variety of seasonal side dishes like Thai soups in the winter and salads in the summer.

At Rooster & Rice, we strongly believe that lunch and dinner should never be a frustrating experience. In the menu-creation process, I returned to my Thai roots and considered the everyday eating habits of people in Thailand. There, if someone is looking for a great dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner, they always come back to chicken and rice. It is a simple dish, but it's incredibly versatile and there are so many things you can do with it to make it appealing to almost any customer.

In 2019. we decided to partner with Aroi Hospitality Group, a restaurant group whose team includes two of the founders of the food-delivery app Caviar, to help our brand develop in new markets. Our menu translates beautifully to takeout and makes delivery services with Caviar a breeze, which has been a huge benefit during the pandemic.

When we ask customers why they enjoy our food, they always reply, "Because it's simple." We know we have a good product and a strong business model, so we are sticking with it while also perfecting a few new, fresh dishes along the way.

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