Mango Tree’s founder on choosing D.C., Thai cuisine, and bringing Mexican food to Thailand

Mango Tree founder Pitaya Phanphensophon, who will open Mango Tree at CityCenterDC later this year, has been mulling a U.S. expansion for some time.

He went to school on this side of the world — in Vancouver — before returning home to Bangkok to take over his family’s Chinese restaurant there. He later opened Mango Tree to focus instead on Thai cuisine, growing the company over the past 15 years into a global empire with more than 70 restaurants.

Phanphensophon aims to grow that empire into at least 10 U.S. restaurants during the next three years, starting with D.C. and likely Miami next. He wants Thai cuisine to be in the top five most popular in the U.S., he said.

His D.C. restaurant will be done in partnership with Richard Sandoval, the prolific restaurateur with several restaurants in the area already. Here are a few other takeaways from our interview:

Why D.C.: The restaurateur was between D.C., New York and Boston for his first U.S. restaurant. Ultimately, New York proved too pricey, he said. “The rent is so expensive, we probably wouldn’t survive,” he said. And Boston was still “too quiet.” It’s also full of students, who aren’t typically spending $25 per person on lunch or $50 per person on dinner, Mango Tree’s average price.

On the silver lining to the long lead time:“The restaurant scene has improved substantially in the last two years,” Phanphensophon said. “This time, I’ve visited many restaurants, and they’re all full. So it’s comforting to know that if you run a proper restaurant, you will be full. There’s a lot of potential here in D.C.”

On branching into the U.S. market:“In the past, international companies saw a restaurant scene in the U.S. that was either fast food, or very top end. During the past 10 years, we’ve seen that gap narrow. People are moving further away from fast food, and they want better quality, which fits well with Thai food.”

On opening locations of Sandoval’s El Centro Mexican restaurant in Thailand: In addition to Sandoval licensing the Mango Tree brand for D.C., Phanphensophon also plans to open locations of Sandoval’s taqueria, El Centro, in Thailand. Those plans have been delayed slightly, until 2016, due to political unrest in Thailand, the restaurateur said.

“Even though they’re so far away from each other, I think Thai and Mexican people are a little bit of the same. So even though Mexican food is not yet popular in Thailand, I think people will find some similarities between the cuisines.” said. “But CityCenter still has quite a few restaurants that aren’t open. So the one comfort is we aren’t the only one.”

On Chinese vs. Thai cuisines: His company began with a Chinese restaurant, Coca, that his parents owned in Bangkok, but in the ensuing years, Phanphensophon has become a devotee of Thai cuisine. “Thai food is not oily or starchy, which a lot of Chinese food is,” he said. “I could eat Thai food almost every day, but Chinese food maybe once a week.”

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up