CO-FOUNDER, VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING, WAHOO’S FISH TACO
DAY JOB: Long-time face of $64 million business he runs with brothers Renato Lee, CEO/president, and Ed Lee, head of forward planning. Company as of May counted 418 workers across 19 locations locally. Has 61 total restaurants.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Always a fixture in OC’s charitable scene, increased workload during pandemic. Teamed with Anaheim Ducks and Honda Center to bring meals to healthcare workers. Company had already been doing deliveries to local hospital, grocery stores and other businesses with essential workers. Frequent sightings at St. Francis Medical Center, CHOC, College Medical Center, while also giving food to families in need.
NOTABLE: Kept some restaurants open at start of pandemic to serve takeout and delivery orders. Began offering family meals for $35. Brothers rolled up their own sleeves often pitching in with some food deliveries themselves via the Wahoo’s delivery truck. Operating on the fly: “we’re using duct tape and rope and zip ties” to install “open for takeout” signs at restaurants, he told Business Journal at end of March.
QUOTABLE: When restaurants reopened, servers wore clear plastic face shields. Don’t expect the salsa bar to be open though, due to state rules pertaining to self-serve stations. “Yeah, no more salsa bars for a while,” Ed Lee told OC Register in May.
FAST FACTS: Avid surfer who launched Wahoo’s with brothers as casual chain with ties to surfing and skating and food drawing influences from China, Brazil, Baja and Greece. Concept celebrated 30 years in business in 2018. Brothers grew up in São Paulo and learned cooking from father, a chef who later opened Shanghai Pine Gardens on Balboa Island.
