Business of the Week: Sukhothai

is one of the best places in the area for Thai Food and has quite a bit of devoted customers dining there on any given day.

Just going to the restaurant at its lunch hour, you can see tables filled with people eating with friends, family, or coworkers. The restaurant’s success is something that owners Ken and Lisa Vongphrachanh are both happy and relieved about.

“We moved out to Tracy when we first started this business the first two years,” said Lisa. “It was a struggle.”

The Vongphrachanh’s purchased in Suisun City with two other business partners shortly after having their first child. The couple had also purchased a home in Tracy. One month after opening, however, their business partners backed out. Lisa, who had worked nine years as an accounting manager, decided to leave her job to work in the restaurant full time.

“I was afraid because you never know with business,” said Lisa. “It can be here today, gone tomorrow. With the help of my husband I got to spend time with my son the first few months. He did a lot of things to get the business started.”

Soon after opening, however, the couple realized they had to make a lot of changes. They covered holes in the walls, painted, replaced the flooring, replaced out of date kitchen appliances, put in a new air conditioning system, and changed the layout of the kitchen to increase efficiency.

“We came in and remodeled and revamped a little and every day… ” she said. “We tried to think of new ways and what else we could do.”

With all of the remodeling and everyday duties of running a restaurant, Lisa said she and her husband were working 16 hours a day, seven days a week. She recalls times when they would be so tired they pulled off the road to get a nap while they were on their way home. When they got home they would have time only to get ready for their day and leave back out to Suisun City.  

With all of the difficulties, things got worse. The couple had to put so much into the restaurant that they could no longer afford both it and their new home. Faced with a decision, the two decided to walk away from their home two years after purchasing it.

“When we purchased (the restaurant) we thought it was very reasonable but it was behind closed doors where we realized there’s a whole chunk of it that we couldn’t afford,” said Lisa.

The couple moved in with family and continued to put their efforts in their new business. Three years into it, they were finally able to see things start to turn around. They were able to keep up with their bills and were no longer stressing every month over not being able to make ends meet. Lisa is happy they stuck with it.

“I’m able to speak about it now, but back then for a year I cried about it; I couldn’t even tell customers,” said Lisa. “But now I'm ok because I want people to know that you can make your dreams happen.”

Lisa said she owes a lot to their family for helping them in those difficult years. Family members often watched the couple’s son, and Lisa’s parents came to work in the restaurant, as well.

She said customers, too, played a big role in the Sukhothai’s success. The business has thrived from much of the word-of-mouth reputation the restaurant has gained.

Sean Lee started coming to Sukhothai after his wife brought him there. Beverly Lee had been eating at the restaurant since 2009. She liked the fact that the food was good and the service was fast. She also liked that Lisa always greets her by name.

“They’re just so friendly,” said Beverly.