Meet Steve Choi

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steve Choi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steve below.

Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

My parents instilled in me a solid work ethic from an early age, just by how they lived. In the early days of Health Nut, I saw my immigrant parents working from open to close 6 days a week (except Sunday, which is the Lord’s Day) without complaint. They came to the US in the late 1970s without anything but $100 each, worked hard to learn the language, the culture, how to run a business, etc., and all with very few resources at their disposal.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am the owner and CEO of Health Nut, a 5-unit fast-casual restaurant brand based in Southern California. We serve fresh and healthy menu items, ranging from salads to sandwiches to soups and paninis, all served with our world-famous homemade dressings. We recently opened our 4th and 5th locations (Culver City in March 2024, and Santa Monica in June 2024), and are always looking for additional growth opportunities. In addition to our restaurants, we have a licensing business that has just announced the retail launch of our dressings in stores nationwide! We also have some additional potential opportunities in CPG licensing that we are excited about. My role is to grow this brand into an internationally recognized health food brand, whose primary mission is to provide healthy, clean food that actually tastes good. I am grateful to God first and foremost for providing such a unique opportunity to grow this brand into what it is, and we are excited for what’s to come!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Faith, perseverance, and time management skills. My faith in Jesus is the driving force behind everything I do. He gives me purpose beyond myself, a reason to persevere when things get tough, and the desire to work diligently with integrity when no one is watching. Perseverance is required because things never go quite as you think they will, or in the expected timeframe. So many things can happen that are unexpected and out of your control, and you need grit to keep at it. Lastly, as I’m growing this business, I quickly learned that I needed to manage my time well to have a healthy balance between work, family, and leisure. Given all my responsibilities and multiple priorities that seem equally important, learning how to manage my day effectively has been a tremendous help.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

I can’t point to just one individual, but it’s really been a combination of meetings, discussions, encounters, etc. with various family members, friends, and business professionals in different industries over the last 10 years or so that has helped me grow as a professional and as a person.

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