ORLANDO, Fla. – Chef Vic Nguyen opened his bao bun-focused restaurant, King Bao, along Mills Avenue in Orlando’s Mills 50 District in 2016 during his wife’s pregnancy.
“I was doing sushi (at Shari Sushi Lounge) at the time and then I had to figure out something where I can stay home and not have to work as a chef the whole time,” Nguyen said. “I was like thinking I was going to do some kind of sandwich place and then my brother came up with an idea of doing a bao restaurant... he gave me the idea and I ran with it.”
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Now, Nguyen is getting ready to open the third location of King Bao in 2022. The new King Bao will sit at 1881 W. Fairbanks Ave.
The location used to house the second location of Bad As’s Sandwich, which closed in July.
Nguyen said the Winter Park location will largely serve to support the other two King Bao restaurants, helping to handle delivery and catering orders.
“It’s sort of almost like a ghost kitchen where we’re just gonna be basically prepping for the other stores and pretty much making it simpler for the other stores,” the chef said.
He added that, even though the Winter Park location will largely support the other restaurants, it will still function as a working restaurant for customers to dine at.
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Nguyen said that the Winter Park store was not originally part of his plans for King Bao. The landlord of his Mills 50 store is building out a larger location across the street, which he plans to move King Bao into, but that move is still about a year out, according to Nguyen.
“So, we’re just gonna take the money that we’re gonna invest into the new location and just make this (Winter Park) location work — so that we have three locations running now,” he said.
Once the new location on Mills Avenue is built and King Bao jumps to the other side of the road, Nguyen still plans to maintain a restaurant in the original space.
“I’m gonna be focusing on vegan food in that location,” Nguyen said, though he did not provide a timetable for when that would happen or give a name for the new plant-based restaurant.
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While Nguyen is looking at starting a new concept, he still has more plans for King Bao’s future.
“We’re actually in the process of franchising now,” Nguyen said. “I have like, maybe 10 or 12 people waiting for me to finish up the paperwork from my lawyers to get everything situated. I got people from California and Colorado and Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami — it’s everywhere. They’re all calling from everywhere.”
Nguyen said he is not sure how many locations of King Bao there will be but wants to make sure the quality remains the same.
“I’d rather have people that are invested that are chefs themselves or people that know the business,” he said. “I don’t want somebody that comes in and messes up my product and reputation because they want to do something cheaper or do something that’s not the way I want it done.”
Once the Winter Park location is up and running, Nguyen said franchising will be the focus of his attention.
The chef said he hopes to have the Winter Park store up and running by mid-January. He hopes to begin hiring 10 to 15 employees for the store in early January.