Kogi BBQ

It’s hard to overstate Kogi BBQ’s importance to both the culinary world and the broader American culture surrounding it. Launched in 2008 as a collaboration between Mark Manguera, Caroline Shin, and chef Roy Choi, the original fusion taco truck uniquely combined Korean kalbi meat with Mexican tacos, and leveraged then-nascent social media to attract crowds wherever the truck roamed. While fusion cuisine, food trucks, and social media marketing certainly existed prior to the first Kogi truck’s pop up outside of Hollywood clubs, Kogi served as a powerful demonstration of their potential when deployed together, kicking off a wave of “inspired” iterations.

As Kogi BBQ multiplied from one to multiple trucks with central daily location reporting on a social media channel and website, young chefs with more vision than money began seeing the food truck concept as a playing field leveler, enabling anyone with a culinary dream – even if not particularly one as unusual as “Korean tacos” – to pursue it without needing to find a building to cook in. Kogi inspired literally countless clones around the country, kicking off a food truck revolution that increased access to interesting food in underserved neighborhoods, as well as media coverage and televised competitions.

Before Kogi, “taco trucks” were substantially focused on Mexican or American foods, enabling operators to show up at an office complex or other location, serve lunch, then move along. Many of the trucks that launched in Kogi’s wake enabled their founders to hone new culinary concepts while perfecting the art of quickly serving hungry, waiting customers. Like Kogi, they could operate late into the night outside various nightclubs, or they could test (then demonstrate to investors or bankers) a neighborhood’s appetite for a longer-term venue serving something new during daylight hours.