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Opportunity Knocks Amy Guo says Sando Shack, now expanding, may not exist if not for COVID-19 Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
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pening Sando Shack was never part of the plan for Amy Guo. For more than two years, she and her partner Dan Jensen had been in the process of opening a poke spot at City Foundry, but delays in the project kept pushing back the timeline. The wait wasn’t ideal, but it was tolerable until this October, when Guo got laid off from her full-time job. In need of a project and income, she and Jensen decided they had to figure out something in the meantime. “We really started thinking if there was something we could do that wasn’t a brick and mortar but a small business venture,” Guo says. “One of the things we really liked when we were living in Seattle were Japanese sandwiches. We started looking into them to see if we could put our own little twist on them, and after some research, we realized that we could do this.” If that meantime side project, Sando Shack (@sandoshackstl), was not part of Guo’s original plan, opening a restaurant certainly wasn’t — at least not until recently. A self-described nine-tofiver who has spent her entire career in the corporate world, Guo says the idea of upending her life for such an undertaking was never something she imagined herself doing. Laser-focused on her career since she entered college, Guo instead found success working in business and marketing, and eventually went on to earn her MBA. Graduate school sparked in Guo an interest in entrepreneurship, but she was still trying to figure out what that meant for her career path. However, after moving
With Sandoshack, Amy Guo is realizing her dream of being an entrepreneur. | ANDY PAULISSEN to Seattle and meeting Jensen, a picture emerged. The pair bonded over a shared love of food and travel, and they spent most of their free time trying new places to eat. Jensen, who has a background in restaurants, expanded Guo’s culinary horizons, and she taught him about the business side of food. It wasn’t long before she began to consider opening a restaurant as her next move. Guo and Jensen were both passionate about seafood and were particularly moved by poke. But the more they looked into opening a poke restaurant in Seattle, the clearer it became to them that the market was oversaturated. This led Guo to start thinking about other locations, including her hometown, St. Louis. Around that time, the City Foundry project was beginning to recruit businesses for its food hall; Guo thought it was the right fit, so she and Jensen signed on. That was 2019. Plagued by delays in the beginning of the project and now the COVID-19 pandemic, City Foundry is still not open. However, Guo is excited that the extra time has given her and Jensen the energy to focus
on Sando Shack, something they might not have ever thought of pursuing were it not for the delay in opening their poke restaurant. Since October, the pair have been doing almost weekly Sunday popups at their friend’s Central West End spot, Saigon Cafe, and have been thrilled with the reception. In fact, the feedback has been so good that they recently bought a food truck and plan on building their brand, even when their poke spot opens at City Foundry. It’s a funny twist of fate that has somehow turned her into a restaurateur — something she is still getting used to. “It’s been really hard, because I am used to having meetings dictate my schedule,” Guo says. “I’m still getting used to this lifestyle where I don’t have a lot going on Monday through Friday, but then I get really busy on the weekends. It’s weird feeling like Sunday nights are when I can relax and wind down, because I am used to getting ready for the week on Sundays. It’s the opposite of what I’ve always done, but I like it. I like using my skills and seeing that what I am doing is working. In the corporate world, you’re often a small
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part of a large project and never get to see the end result. Here, you actually see how what you do is being utilized. It’s very satisfying.” Guo took a moment away from Sando Shack to share her thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage community, her love of coffee and Szechuan peppercorns, and why increased communication is one COVID-era restaurant practice that she hopes sticks around postpandemic. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I was born in Maryland and then spent some years living with my grandparents and going to school in China until I was nine years old. That’s when I came back to the .S. and finished school and relearned English. I’m super grateful for the experience I had in China and proud to say now I’m uent in both English and Mandarin. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Coffee. Sadly I see my productivity difference when I have coffee versus when I don’t. And it’s just so yummy!
MARCH 31-APRIL 6, 2021
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