The person.The practice.
I'm a Korean-American operator from Orange County. I started working in hospitality at 16, in 2006. My experience spans restaurant floors, hotel food and beverage, multiunit operations and founder-led businesses. Pastoral, board and community service run in parallel.
Today I'm Regional Director of Operations at Hana Group, and Director of Development and Communications at Hope Horizon EPA.
I take on restaurant operations consulting and Director of Operations support, and I'm open to the right full-time operations role. Based in San Mateo.
The origin
It started inOrange County.
My first case study in operational excellence wasn't a boardroom. It was my parents' cleaning business in Orange County. Six in the morning to six at night. Six days a week. They didn't just clean houses across Irvine and the surrounding cities. They built the most trusted name in the category, one customer at a time, over years.
Watching them taught me three things before I had language for any of them. Reputation is a multi-year compounding asset. Quality control is a process, not a value statement. The work that's invisible to the customer is what makes the work the customer sees feel effortless.
By the time I started working my own shifts, I had already internalized something most operators don't pick up until much later: that the floor is the source of truth, that systems work when nobody has to be a hero, and that grit without architecture just produces burnout.
Career
On the floorsince sixteen.
Each step moved from doing the work to building the people and systems that do it. Concurrent roles are shown as they happened.
- 2021 to present
Regional Director of Operations
Hana Group$66M regional P&L across 38 stores in 10 states, two brands and three concepts inside four host retailers. 30 direct reports within a 120-person regional workforce.
- 2019 to 2025
Operations General Manager
Zareen's Restaurant & Catering Group$30M Michelin-recognized group scaled from three to five locations: four restaurants, a central kitchen and catering, 215 people.
- 2016 to present
Principal, advisory & operating engagements
SEOD (concurrent)Operating models, pricing, financial controls and the technology layer for founder-led businesses.
- 2015 to 2019
District Manager · General Manager · AM to GM
Gen Korean BBQ · Sake2Me · BCD Tofu HouseMultiunit and unit-level restaurant leadership in high-volume dining.
- Starting in 2006
Early hospitality experience
Baja Fresh · Wasabi Sushi and Cuisine · Hotel F&BI began at Baja Fresh as a cashier at 16, then worked at Wasabi Sushi and Cuisine before moving into hotel food and beverage.
Studies & credentials
I studied business and marketing, then theology for about six years.
Building somethingworthwhile?
Let's connect. Community projects, or writing and speaking on operations.