BY HIEN LE
UW News Lab
When Chulsung Lee opened his burger business 2CH in Kirkland, he didn’t know it would eventually become his American dream.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Lee.
Despite the fact that Lee’s burgers are very affordable – some in the $2 to $3 range – he admits that maintaining a restaurant in today’s economy is no easy task.
“I’m losing money right now,” said Lee. Since opening in October last year, “I’ve never made a profit with this restaurant.”
But keeping his dreams in mind, Lee has never quit.
Lee, 36, came to America from Korea in December 2002. With dreams of becoming a professional golf player, he settled in Issaquah where he joined a private golf club.
“I wanted to be a golfing pro [so] I came to the United States, [but] I needed to learn business to get a [residential] status here, so I studied owning restaurants so that I can get a business visa,” said Lee.
Straying away from golf, Lee and his wife moved to Mukilteo in 2004. He opened a restaurant there and eventually opened others in Seattle, Kirkland and Lynn-wood.
“I owned a lot of restaurants before,” said Lee. “I had a teriyaki restaurant, a Korean restaurant, and then I opened a hamburger restaurant at the University District called A Burger Place.”
In 2006, Lee opened a sushi restaurant called Sushiya at the same location 2CH is at today on 98th Ave. NE in Kirkland. After only about a year, Lee decided to close Sushiya when a buyer offered to purchase the establishment from him. The restaurant remained closed throughout 2007 while the transaction was in progress. During that time, Lee signed a lease in Lynnwood and opened another restaurant there. Before the transaction on the sushi restaurant was finalized, however, the buyer backed out of the deal, leaving Lee with a vacant property.
“She just canceled all the transactions right before the day she needed to pay money,” said Lee. “So I decided to sell the restaurant in Lynnwood in order to come back to this location.”
Shortly after returning to the vacant sushi restaurant, Lee re-opened for business in October 2008, this time selling burgers and renaming the place 2CH, which he says stands for chicken and hamburger. Not too long after, the restaurant closed for a three-month period from January through March of this year.
Along with the bad economy, “last winter the weather wasn’t good at all so I lost all the money I had,” said Lee. “I didn’t have enough money to make payments for the utilities like the gas and electric and even the employees, so I had to close.”
In April of this year, Lee decided to re-open 2CH with changes to the menu and reduction in prices.
“We used to sell hamburgers, pastas and rice dishes but I cut down the menu and only stayed with hamburgers,” said Lee.
Now, Lee’s menu consists of 11 different burgers with prices ranging from $1.95 to $3.55 for single burgers and around $6.65 for daily specials. Prices include fries and a soda along with the burger.
At this time, Lee owns no other restaurants besides 2CH. He now dreams of developing it into a nationwide food-chain. He plans on setting his restaurants apart from burger chains by offering only the best quality meat and produce.
When asked whether he would go back to pursuing a career in golf, Lee replied: “I don’t know. I will follow the way God leads me.”
Although he left his dream of playing golf to earn a living, Lee is content with being in the restaurant industry.
“The main goal in owning this restaurant is to create happiness for the people living around the Kirkland area,” said Lee. “The name 2CH also means “to create happiness.”
2CH is located at 11451 98th Ave. N.E. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays.
HIEN LE is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
