Pat and Sara Lee already had successful PhoNatic restaurants around the area, but when it came time to decide where to open a new location in 2013 the choice was obvious.
“Cedar Park was booming, and there was a void in Cedar Park for not only Vietnamese food, but Asian food,” Pat said.
The Cedar Park eatery on Whitestone Boulevard is the third PhoNatic the Lees opened, joining locations in Austin and Round Rock.
The Lees opened Pho Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House in Austin in 2006 and later opened several locations of fast-casual eatery PhoNatic. Pat said one of the key elements that helped the company grow is constant evaluation and learning from past mistakes. In recent years PhoNatic had to close its locations in the Mueller and Southpark Meadows shopping centers in Austin.
“You make some good moves, and you make some bad moves,” Pat said. “We go back and try to learn from our mistakes, our missteps, and we try to get better every day.”
Pat and his wife, Sara, opened Pho Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House a dozen years ago because they felt the area was lacking options for customers who wanted Vietnamese food.
Pat said PhoNatic helped get Vietnamese and Asian eateries more attention, and one of the byproducts of this growth is more competition.
“Competition breeds better products [and] better businesses as well,” he said.
Both Pat and Sara come from families involved in the grocery and restaurant industry.
Sara grew up helping her family run restaurants in San Antonio. In the 1980s Pat’s parents opened an Asian grocery store in Austin, which is now called MT Supermarket.
For Pat there are some similarities between the market and restaurants.
“It’s just about delivering a strong product, a good product, at a reasonable price,” he said.
As for the future Pat said if the company can learn from its mistakes and keep the ambition that was there on day one, PhoNatic will be successful no matter how many locations it has.
“I would love to have five more locations, but we’re going to be really selective with our growth,” Pat said.
Senior Editor Amy Denney contributed to this story
PhoNatic
1468 Whitestone Blvd., Ste. 200, Cedar Park
512-528-1090
www.pho-natic.com
Hours: Mon.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
