Kai Chase: The Relentless Adaptability That Drives Culinary Success In NYC

As part of our series about the lessons from influential ‘TasteMakers’, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Chef Kai Chase.

Ria and Kevol Graham are the husband and wife Co-Founders of Kokomo, an acclaimed Caribbean dining destination in Brooklyn. The pair launched the restaurant and bar at the height of the pandemic, using their years of experience in the hospitality industry to create one of the hottest new sp in New York.

Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restaurateur?

We both worked in hospitality before we got married. I was head of marketing at a restaurant, and Kevol was a guest chef that we hired to promote Black History Month. We bonded over food, and got married 8 months later. Fast forward to the birth of our first child, we knew that we wanted to build a legacy for our family. We explored a few different opportunities, and ultimately decided that we should pursue our original passion for restaurants.

Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?

Ria and I are of Caribbean descent, so our primary focus is Caribbean cuisine — with a twist. We travel a lot and oftentimes we can only get a particular flavor profile from that particular destination. We wanted to combine our culture with our experiences.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you became a restaurateur? What was the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

One of the most interesting things about Kokomo is the exposure we’ve received from social media and other platforms. Although we have a lot of love in the city, we also host guests from all over the country. We’ve had visitors from Buffalo, NY, Pennsylvania, Florida, you name it. A lot of people tell us they found Kokomo online and made a weekend trip out of dining with us. Grandmothers have come in saying that their grandkids showed them our Instagram profile and so they wanted to check us out! The takeaway is how powerful brand awareness is, and how recognizable our establishment is. We’re amazed and thankful.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? How did you overcome this obstacle?

The hardest thing about this journey has been COVID- 19. Opening a restaurant for the 1st time is tough, but adding the pressure of COVID-19 took it to another level. NYC was trying its best to keep everyone safe, and with that came a lot of ever changing rules. We had to do daily reschedule and training to make sure we were staying on top of the new regulations. Fortunately, we have a great team that took all of the procedures seriously.

In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?

The dish has to be visual and “Instagrammable”. It should be creative, with flavor profiles that open your taste buds to new experiences. Interactive dishes are always a plus — for example, a pour at the table or smoke.

Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal for you’?

A perfect meal for us is being surrounded by good food, great friends, and strong drinks!

Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?

Our inspiration for creating comes from our culture and family. The Caribbean is a melting pot of many different cultures. Typically people think there’s only a strong African influence, but when you pull the mask back on Caribbean culture, there’s so much more than that. We are heavily Indian, East Asian, French, and Spanish influenced. Tapping into all of these hidden gems of the Caribbean makes it easy to stay inspired and keep things fresh.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?

We are working on many new exciting projects. We knew before we opened location number one that we wanted to expand. Not only expand location-wise, but also expand the experiences we offer our guests. We hope to open people’s minds to what it means to be Caribbean. Our culture has so much to offer, and we plan on exposing it in our own unique way.

What advice would you give to other restaurateurs to thrive and avoid burnout?

You are only as good as your team. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Make a conscious effort to build a strong foundation. You will not be up to it everyday so you need strong shoulders to stand on during those moments.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Restaurateur” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. You have everything you need to succeed within you.

Restaurant consultants will come out of the woodworks to sell you a dream for an expensive penny. The secret is that you don’t need them. Use that same money to invest in your business

2. Don’t sign any contracts without a lawyer.

When running a restaurant, you get into contracts with many different vendors. A lot of these contracts are geared towards the other party’s best interests. Even if the contract seems minor, get a lawyer to review it. You’ll be surprised at what they found that you overlooked.

3. Be willing to adapt to an ever changing environment.

Rules change all the time in this business. What was a regulation today can completely change tomorrow. Be ready to roll with punches and go with the flow.

4. Don’t do this if you’re not passionate about it.

It’s easy to get burnt out in this industry. If you’re in it for the wrong reasons, you’ll be closed before you even open.

5. Profit margins are slim.

You have to watch your food costs extremely closely. It makes all the difference in how much money your business will retain.

What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?

Our three pound red snapper served ​​Escovitch style or with a tamarind sauce. It’s not everyday you find a well-seasoned snapper of that size! We serve it with traditional rice and peas, and our honey ginger house salad.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

A movement to pay it forward. We get so many questions on how we got started and became so successful. We know how important those answers are to kicking off someone else’s career, so we always take the time to answer to help. If those same people can do the same, and expand on what we said to the next group of people, there would be a wave of entrepreneurs helping each other to succeed. None of us should hoard helpful information, there’s enough business out there for all of us to succeed.

Thank you so much for these insights. This was very inspirational!