Sometimes all it takes is a creative menu and a singular vision to stand out from the crowd of emerging concepts. Hawkers Asian Street Food is an emerging Orlando-based casual dining chain that is a very unique concept within the Technomic Top 500. While other major Asian chains focus on hotpot, sushi and ramen, the Hawkers’ menu is based on Asian street food. food, serving dishes like dim sum, noodle and rice dishes, wings and skewers as well as specialty cocktails.
In 2023, although Hawkers only opened one new location, its sales growth was 18.5%, more than double the brand’s unit growth percentage of 7.7%.
Hawkers was created by four co-founders – CEO Kaleb Harrell, chief brand officer Allen Lo, Wayne Yung and Kin Ho – who were friends as children and later traveled Asia together. During their travels, they were very impressed by the food sold by hawkers at hawker stalls, most commonly seen in places like Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They wanted to bring those flavors and style of dining back to their hometown of Orlando, and in 2011, the first Hawkers restaurant was born. Since then, the company has experienced constant growth.
“I think we’re seeing a shift from traditional brands to emerging brands, and I think Hawkers is benefiting from that shift,” Harrell said. “It’s something we’re very proud of. … We have a 4.8 star rating across all review platforms, and that’s pretty unheard of for a multi-unit restaurant. We feel like this is driving a ton of our repeat visits, which ultimately lead to sales and traffic.
One of Hawkers’ most recent store openings was actually a reopened store in Atlanta, which had closed during the pandemic due to facility issues. Other highlights from the past year include same-store sales growth of 26%, positive traffic momentum (which has been a challenge for the rest of the restaurant industry of late) and sales figures approaching $100 million.
The secret sauce? Making sure to maintain the same independent restaurant feel, even as the brand continues to grow.
“Internally, we don’t really use the term ‘chain’ to describe what we are, because of the stigma that comes with that term,” Harrell said. “We’ve really tried to grow in a thoughtful, methodical way and kept the neighborhood feel of all of our locations. I would say 90% of our customers don’t know there are other Hawkers.
The Hawkers team will continue to develop in a methodical manner that does not compromise quality. Stores in the works include a third location in Washington, D.C., a second location in Charlotte and further expansion plans for the Texas market. Then, in 2025, it will be about filling current markets, while the company looks to expand into new cities in 2026 and beyond.
Contact Joanna Fantozzi at (email protected)
