Meet Jeff Hancock | CEO & Dishwasher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeff Hancock and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was blessed to grow up with two great parents and a brother that has become one of my best friends. My family moved to Saudi Arabia when I was two years old, and we lived there for 10 years. We were able to travel the world together and experience many foreign countries and cultures. This experience allowed me to appreciate the gifts that I was given in life and unknowingly, perhaps, influenced a lot of my decision making. After moving back to the United States, I attended high school in Spring, Texas. I then moved to New York for college to create another new experience at Cornell University.

I remember hearing the late Herman Cain speak at Cornell during my undergraduate studies. He was one of the most engaging speakers I had/have ever heard. He claimed that success is a journey not a destination and described how he had hopped on and off his “destination bus” throughout his career. While I had no intent on being in the restaurant industry, this is the story of my “destination bus” so far.

My career began after I graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. I had focused on finance and marketing, with zero intentions of ever being in the restaurant business. I moved to Los Angeles to start my consulting position at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. After a couple years I found that sitting in an office all day was not the right path for me.

Through a professor at Cornell I was introduced to a small business owner that also graduated from Cornell and went to work at his airline catering company in New York and Rhode Island. I viewed this as a great opportunity to truly understand how a business operates, not necessarily a change into the food service business. After a couple of very tough and very educational years working over 80 hours a week, I decided to move back to the state of Texas and earn my MBA from the University of Texas. I focused on entrepreneurship and operations and planned for this to allow me to restart my professional career and have the freedom to do something completely new!

Upon graduation, I interviewed with a few companies. All roads were pointing back to an office job, something I could not seem to accept. So, with two of my classmates we decided that in 2004 we were going to get into the food truck business. I was reluctant to take such a risky move, and again I never had plans to be in the food service industry. But here we go…
We went to Houston to meet with the city planners and discovered that what we wanted to do was not going to be possible. It was early in the food truck business for what we were trying to do, and the regulations were not in place to support it yet. Discouraged, we went to lunch at a place that my brother (who worked in downtown Houston at the time) recommended. It was an Asian restaurant, and it was inspirational!

The place had a line 50 people deep and they were churning through really fast. We went to Academy and bought click counters and spent the next several days counting people and what they were ordering by category. We got kicked out by security a couple times, but not before we had gathered the data we needed.

Back to the numbers, we built a financial model and it looked pretty good. We decided that this was worth pursuing and moved to Dallas to make it happen. We scouted locations with the goal of being in the underground tunnel system downtown where we would expect to generate a lot of repeat customers from people working in the surrounding buildings. But, we would need to have a menu first…

We created a menu (at least in print), designed some marketing materials, and began our location search. You can imagine how these conversations went. We would pick a space and meet with their leasing representatives to discuss our plans. They would ask about our experience in opening restaurants, and we would tell them that we are building our experience now… Maybe not the most compelling statement.

Finally, somebody really believed in us and what we were trying to create. We leased space in the Republic Tower downtown to build our first Kuai restaurant. There was a lot of work in between the signing of the lease and opening day. But we pressed on, often until the early hours in the morning, to get the restaurant open. On October 27th of 2006 we opened for business. My path from Cornell to here was quite turbulent and unexpected. There were some great times and some very tough and sad times. But now, as I look back on almost a third of my life with this restaurant company, I am so proud of where we are and what we have been able to accomplish. Now, I do what I love and love what I do, what a blessing!

This year we hope to refine our model given the drastic changes to everything because of the pandemic. Once we feel that we have adapted our model to our new environment we hope to begin a more rapid path of growth and expansion, God willing!

What should our readers know about your business?
Kuai Asian Kitchen is a quick-service restaurant concept that provides flavorful Asian rice bowls, dumplings, soups, salads, sides and iced teas at a reasonable price. In an environment where consumers are looking for healthier alternatives to traditional fast food while not sacrificing the convenience of speedy service, Kuai provides a delicious alternative!
We believe that making and serving great food depends on a few key ingredients which we refer to as the “Kuai Way.” The Kuai Way is the foundation on which the company is built and drives all aspects of daily operations. This includes: Respect, Teamwork, Safety, Service, Pride, and Fun! In an industry plagued with employee turn-over, we are blessed with team members that have been with us for over 15 years!

The easiest way to describe Kuai is to break it down to the three things that make our restaurant great.

The Food
We feature popular Asian inspired fare from 6 countries: Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, India. We try to pick the “best of” menu items from each country. We prepare our food in healthy ways: Steamed, Baked, or Boiled. There are no fryers or microwaves on premises. These methods of preparation in conjunction with the great flavors of our food generate a high rate of repeat business.

Consumers are increasingly becoming “Have-it-my-way-guests”. Which is fine for us at Kuai as our menu is highly customizable and we are usually able to meet our customer’s needs in terms of tastes, allergies, or nutritional needs. Our orders are made on demand so our ability to create a meal tailored to each customer is easy.

The Service
The word “Kuai” literally means “Fast” or “Quick” in Mandarin Chinese. Our entire operation is designed for speedy service without compromising on the quality of our food. With increasing pressure to find to time to eat a healthy meal these days, we have found the answer. And while we are quick, we have always tried to provide excellent service in our restaurants and know that it is a meaningful part of why we have such loyal customers.

The Value
Our goal is to offer reasonable prices. This is the final piece of our Value Proposition: (Quality + Speed)/Price. Serving high quality ingredients, with healthy preparation methods and speedy service does not prevent us from giving our customers a great deal.

The Kuai Trifecta
What really makes Kuai so special, and what I am most proud of, is our ability to deliver the combination of great food, speedy service, and reasonable prices. This is what I refer to as the Kuai trifecta, and it is what sets us apart from other restaurants!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I had a friend visiting for a week I would take them on a DFW tour. First, I would search for local festivals depending on the time of the year. It is one of my favorite ways to enjoy the outdoors while supporting the local community. If there were some local microbreweries around we would probably support those too!

Around the Dallas area we would probably spend some time in the Bishop Arts District, Deep Ellum, and Lower Greenville exploring the retail and restaurants that they offer.

If it was one of my friends from New York, I would probably take them on a surprise tour at AT&T Stadium so that they could more fully appreciate the Dallas Cowboys!

Finally, we would venture to Fort Worth and enjoy some time at the Stockyards. If we were lucky, catch a country music concert and watch a rodeo.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There have been many obstacles and challenges. Sometimes they test your resolve and make you question why you chose the path you are on (did my destination bus take the wrong turn?!).

But, I believe that God has a plan for our business. I am grateful for Him and my faith because I know we wouldn’t be here today otherwise. Part of our restaurant’s mission is to nurture the communities. And with His grace I believe we will!

I am also deeply grateful to my family. I have had support from my entire family (Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, etc…). But most importantly has been the support, counsel, passion and wisdom I have received from Charlie Hancock, Sarah Hancock and Paul Hancock (my father, mother and brother). I have leaned on them greatly over the years and they have always been up to the challenge!

Website: https://www.kuaiasiankitchen.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kuaiasiankitchen/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KuaiDumplings

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kuaiAsianKitchen/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kuai-asian-kitchen-dallas-3

Image Credits
Kathy Tran