The Small Business Spotlight: Koko Ramen
In this "Small Business Spotlight," presented by American Bank, Austin Meek of Waco Business News highlights Gene Vinnykov of Koko Ramen.
A Koko Ramen rice bowl with brisket. The concept started when Gene Vinnykov tried to fuse his loves of ramen and Texs BBQ. Photo by Koko Ramen.
A few weeks ago I was commiserating with a fellow food-truck owner about just how difficult a mobile food business can be.
Not only are you running a restaurant, but you're also operating a logistics company: the truck needs to be moved by X time, a nail in your tire leaves you on the side of the road, the rain hits and you're forced to close shop.The road to freedom, if you can afford it, is by jumping to a permanent location.
That's exactly what Gene Vinnykov and the team at Koko Ramen did recently when they shuttered their trailer at Dancing Bear Pub and moved into a new space downtown, Union Hall.
A line forms outside of Koko Ramen’s new location inside Union Hall food hall.
"The bills are definitely a little bit higher but the turnout and the product that we've been able to put out has definitely been great and we've seen why brick-and-mortars are the way to go. That's what we want to do.
"But the food truck was definitely an incubator. It was a proof of concept and without it we would've never known that Koko Ramen would have been successful."
The proof of concept was especially important to Vinnykov for two reasons: not only was he attempting to introduce Waco to a new food category in ramen, he also wanted it to be unlike any other ramen spot in the world. To get there, he leaned on his business partner, Reid Guess, with whom he manages both Koko Ramen and the lauded Guess Family BBQ on Franklin Avenue.
Fried bao buns from Koko Ramen use smoked brisket from Guess Family BBQ. Image by Koko Ramen.
"We put a huge BBQ twist on everything we do: all of the ramen, from putting pork belly in the bowls that has been smoked in our smokers at Guess to possibly making things like brisket rangoons rather than crab rangoons. We do brisket instead of pulled pork egg rolls or brisket rice bowls. And those are the things that people have been huge fans of, and have really, really loved, and barbeque gets incorporated in almost every dish now."
Gene was raised in a culinary household and knew he wanted to build on his family's heritage with the Koko concept.
"I originally grew up in Ukraine where my grandma would make chicken soup for a day and a half. And I would always figure out, 'Why does it take so long?' And as I got older I've kind of figured out that it takes time to make the great things."
Bowls are first filled with broth - from either a pork or mushroom stock - and are then topped with fresh noodles, seasonal greens, a soft boiled egg, and maybe even some of that famous pork belly sizzling so enticingly on the griddle. I caught up with a mother and daughter sitting at the bar near the drink station.
[Bar conversation}
The story of koko Ramen mirrors the multiculturalism that's becoming the norm for many American businesses. A guy migrates from Ukraine, falls in love with Japanese food, moves to Texas, can't get his mind off of BBQ, and cooks up a dream team to make his ramen a reality.
"While I might be a white guy from Ukraine, we have a lot of culinary background behind us and we've brought in a lot of good advice. So what I think we're sharing today is as good a product as we're going to serve. Of course I think it's going to evolve and keep getting better but there's been a lot of time and research put in."
This "Small Business Spotlight,” co-produced by Waco Business News and KWBU, first aired on Friday, January 17, 2020, in Episode 77 of Downtown Depot on 103.3 KWBU-FM Waco.