VIET NGUYỄN
CO-FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE CHEF
KEI CONCEPTS
WHY: Co-creator of seven restaurant brands—such as SÚP Noodle Bar, VOX Kitchen, INI
Ristorante, ROL Hand Roll Bar, Kei Coffee House—under the umbrella of Kei Concepts.
Based in Huntington Beach and operates 12 locations in Orange County and Los Angeles.
IN THE NEWS: Nguyễn’s new dining concept, called QUA, serves contemporary Chinese cuisine. It opened in November in Fountain Valley. He expects Kei Concepts to generate close to $90M in revenue in 2026.
NOTABLE: Grew up in South Saigon and moved to California in 2002, where he bought a bike and started working at a pho restaurant as a busboy on his second day in U.S. When building his portfolio, chooses the location of the restaurant first, before deciding the cuisine. With the initial concept SÚP Noodle Bar in 2014, Nguyễn said he found a high-traffic plaza—with an H Mart grocery store and 85°C Bakery—and signed a 600-square-foot lease before identifying a local need to open a premium
pho soup restaurant.
QUOTABLE: “Do not sell what you have. Sell what people want.”
