Pim Techamuanvivit didn’t grow up in a restaurant. In fact, she never worked in a professional kitchen until she opened her first restaurant, One MICHELIN Star Kin Khao, in 2014. Still, despite her untraditional success story, her career has catapulted from one restaurant to three—on two continents. So, how does this dynamic chef do it all? “A great team,” she says.
From bytes to bites
Chef Techamuanvivit spent the early part of her career working in Silicon Valley, but one day she asked herself that age-old question, “what do I want to do when I grow up?” She started blogging about food in the early aughts and quickly made a name for herself. Her love of California’s beautiful fruit led to a booming jam business, but after looking at other Thai restaurants in San Francisco, she realized that most weren’t paying attention to high quality ingredients and saw an opportunity. She opened Kin Khao, a place she describes as “loud, tiny, and fun.” Admittedly, she had plenty of passion, but not a lot of experience. “The best thing I did before opening was to sit down with a big, yellow legal pad and write down the things I didn’t know how to do,” she laughs. She sought help, whether from consultants or full-time hires in those areas, but the cooking was left to her.
When MICHELIN Noticed
“I remember it very clearly. We opened in March 2014 and we earned our MICHELIN Star in September 2015. It was pretty amazing because it wasn’t expected at all,” she says. “I realized that, I guess it really is all about the food because people would come in and say, ‘you’re kind of loud for a Star, aren’t you?’”
Opportunity Came Knocking
Kin Khao was thriving when Chef Techamuanvivit was approached about opening another restaurant in Hotel Kabuki. “It was a beautiful space with gorgeous windows.” She couldn’t refuse, opening her second San Francisco restaurant, Nari. “But when it rains, it pours,” she jokes. Around that same time, Christina Ong of COMO Hotels approached her to take over [One MICHELIN Star] Nahm in Bangkok. “I now had two restaurants in San Francisco, but Bangkok…my mother lives there so how could I say no?” She flew to Bangkok and realized she loved everything about running a kitchen there. “Whether it’s going to the markets or cooking in the kitchen, it’s just so much fun there.” She knew she had to make it work.
She started at Nahm in April 2018, staying for three months to get everything set up. “That first year, I went back and forth a lot. The people on United Airlines started calling me by my first name,” she laughs. Then, the pandemic changed everything and she was unable to visit for two years. She credits her strong team of talented individuals for keeping things running so smoothly.
Three Restaurants on Two Continents
Running one restaurant, let alone three on two continents, is a busy enterprise, but Chef Techamuanvivit manages it all with discipline. “Routine is very important to keeping a rhythm. When I fly, I always fly the same flight. That first day in Bangkok, I always spend at the market.” She plans her trips well in advance, with typically 3-4 trips to Thailand each year, staying 3-4 weeks at a time.
Back home in California, she typically begins her days at Kin Khao. “If I don’t have any meetings, I’ll spend the second half of the lunch shift checking on people (both employees and guests). Some of these people have worked with me from the very beginning,” she shares. Later, around mid-afternoon, she heads over to Nari. “I walk the dining room, making sure people are happy.” Sometimes that means sending over a favorite dish to a regular while other times, other times it may mean answering phones or running food. If she has the time, she’ll sit down to eat an entire meal. “It’s a good opportunity to take notes. Is the seasoning correct? What about the temperature or the proportions of sauce?”
Clear Communication
Knowing that she couldn’t be in three places at once, “I engineered myself out by necessity.” That said, communication is key to her restaurants’ success. “I strongly believe in cross-pollination, so I’ll bring my sous chef or beverage director from Nari to Nahm, and vice versa. They all talk to each other.”
Still Having Fun
She may be busy, but she’s still enjoying the ride, whether it’s the two miles between Kin Khao and Nari or the nearly 8,000 miles to Bangkok. “During Covid, I had a moment where I thought, ‘this two continent existence is hard,’ but then I returned and realized it’s so much fun. We’ll figure this out.’”
Indeed, she has.
