- April 18, 2024
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When Ormond Beach’s Kim and Ryan Kamchan took over Zen Bistro, they never imagined business would more than double in just five years through their kids' leadership.
BY MIKE CAVALIERE | ASSOCIATE EDITOR
It was always Ryan Kamchan’s dream to own a restaurant, but when he got the chance six years ago to take over a Thai place called Zen Bistro, on Bay Street, in Daytona Beach, he resisted.
Thing was, he already had a job, at Cobb Cole law firm as a general manager; he and his wife, Kim, of 35 years, had a home in Ormond Beach; and they had two kids in college to think about. Over time, though, circumstances changed, college ended, and the Kamchans had an idea: What if we bought the place, but our children ran it?
Five years later, how it all got started is a distant memory. Under John and Kristin Kamchan’s leadership, Zen Bistro transformed from a quick lunch spot to an established Asian eatery. Staff has tripled. And the restaurant will hold a grand opening this Saturday of its new location, at 223 Magnolia Ave., in Daytona, which is more than double the size of its former home.
“The first time I ever worked in a restaurant is when I took this one over,” John Kamchan said, sitting on the cobblestone patio outside the new Zen Bistro. “Basically, I was groomed to be an attorney growing up.”
Attending Pine Trail Elementary, Ormond Beach Middle and Seabreeze High School, Kamchan and his sister grew up in Ormond Beach, where their parents still reside. And Kamchan intended on going to law school a year after graduating from Florida State University. But he’s never liked the idea of being pigeonholed by one thing — he says he loves to surf but never wanted to be considered “a surfer;” it’s just too simple.
“This is where my life is right now,” he thought, lying in bed the night before the first day he’d run the restaurant on his own. “It’s time to commit to that.”
So that’s what he did. At the age of 23, he committed to learning all that he could about the food industry. With a budget of just $5,000, he tried to create an ambiance in the small, 32-seat restaurant that had now become his livelihood. He got into branding. He learned about feng shui, then bought new chairs, lighting and a few cans of paint based on some of its principles.
“Slowly, our business was getting bigger and bigger,” he said. And soon, for the first time, it was making more money at dinner than at lunch. “That’s really how we got the ball rolling.”
Building the new place, on Magnolia, was less restricting, though. Kamchan led the designs. He ordered the gutting of a former Alcoholics Anonymous meeting space, built a kitchen and transformed a parking lot into a patio, fire pit and bar area (to be completed in about three months).
The restaurant now can seat 70 inside and, once the patio’s done, 150. And more room in the kitchen means more options in the dining room: more refrigeration to accomodate more menu options, more wines and more seafood.
And so far, relocating their old clientele hasn’t been a problem, either.
“It’s just been packed and we haven’t even really got the word out,” Kim Kamchan said, noting that the soft opening was about two weeks ago.
Renovations took six months.
“I enjoy a challenge, and that is the interesting part of the restaurant business for me” John Kamchan said. “And in my last restaurant, we reached a glass ceiling, so to speak.”
Every single shift so far at the new place, he added, has yielded a higher payout than any shift Zen Bistro ever earned at its previous spot.
“In my short experience in the restaurant business,” he said, “I don’t think that you can be more fortunate.”
“We’re not restaurateurs,” Kim Kamchan added. “We’re a family.”
Call 248-0453.
