Meet Nick Ro | Owner Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Ro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, other than deciding to work for yourself, what else do you think played a pivotal role in your story?
I don’t consider myself successful yet but I know I am working hard towards becoming successful. Deciding to work for myself was challenging enough but the most important decision that I made was moving to Tennessee. Leaving NYC where I spent most of my life was not easy as well as for my partner Yun. I thank my wife for encouraging me to go outside of my small box and look for opportunities where my skills can shine the most. Yun also mentioned that he appreciate his wife for supporting him and patiently waiting for him while he was away for almost year and a half.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Mi Kitchen is a westernized international tapas restaurant. I studied french culinary and my partner Yun studied Korean culinary. With our ten plus years of experience in this restaurant industry, we always put in efforts to create a dish that can exceed the expectations and can bring out all the flavors of the each and every single ingredients. It is truly a joy when customers recognize how much effort we put in each plates. For me and Yun to open up a restaurant where we were not familiar with was a challenge. It was hard to find a landlord who would even give us a chance to lease the place to open the restaurant, because we never owned a restaurant before. We finally found a place in Cool springs. Franklin after looking for about a year. I guess we were way too confident, we barely had three, four tables a day for almost a month and a half of opening the restaurant back in April 18, 2023. We all thought that we were doing something terribly wrong. We did not have any budget for marketing so it was very painful to just look at those empty tables. About two months later, we started seeing familiar faces who became our regulars and they brought family and friends, friends of friends and families from out of town. We had journalists, influencers, content creators who visited us, liked us and supported us. When we first saw a line out the door, we all almost cried. I personally think I could overcome those challenges because I believed in myself and my partner. Lesson learned, it’s not over until it’s over.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I still have not explored enough to give anybody a tour but if my friends and family would visit I would first go to broadway. Who does not like live music? First spot to hang is of course Mi Kitchen. Then, Franklin factory, farmer’s market, we have to eat hot chicken, local breweries, East Nashville, Batman tower, museums…I think I would need more than a week!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Of course there are many people that deserves our shoutout but of course I thank my partner Chef Yun for always being there so strong. Journalist Delia Jo, content creator Anas, foodies of Nashiville facebook group and many of our regulars who introduced our restaurant to community in supporting local businesses. I want to thank every one of them and want them to know we genuinely appreciate you all!

Website: mikitchen-franklin.com

Instagram: mikitchen.franklin

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mi-kitchen-franklin

Other: [email protected]