Locol was a restaurant founded by Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson. The name connoted both "local" and "loco". The restaurant aspired to serve healthy alternatives to fast food at affordable prices while benefiting communities and disrupting food deserts. The restaurant's first location was in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.
History
The company's founders, Daniel Patterson, and Roy Choi, were both chefs in California prior to starting Locol. Patterson owned several high-end restaurants, including Coi in San Francisco. Choi owned an “empire” of food trucks, mostly serving tacos with ingredients inspired by Korean cuisine. In 2013, Patterson suffered a bout of depression, began a course of medication, and grew disillusioned with high-end dining. Later in 2013, Patterson saw Choi speak in Copenhagen about his personal and professional experience with poverty in Los Angeles. Choi concluded the talk by rhetorically asking the audience: “What if every high-caliber chef, all of us here, told our investors…that for every fancy restaurant we would build, it would be a requirement to build a restaurant in the hood as well?”. Patterson contacted Choi several months after the talk and together they began fleshing out a menu and business plan. Choi first announced the plans for Locol at MAD Symposium in 2014. The announced goal of the restaurant was to offer healthy food at a competitive price point, with a menu items similar to larger fast food companies such as Burger King and McDonald's. Choi disclosed that the price range for individual items would generally hover between $2 and $6, with an upper limit of $8. In 2014 San Francisco's Tenderloin District was chosen as the location of the first restaurant, with pending second and third locations in Los Angeles and Oakland. After difficulties with the landlord in San Francisco, Choi mentioned the idea for Locol to Aqeela Sherrills, a Los Angeles-based activist. After the conversation, Sherrills temporarily rented a space to Choi and Patterson in Los Angeles. Despite difficulties with construction and permitting, Locol opened on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016. Celebrities including Jon Favreau, Jim Brown, and Lena Dunham attended the opening. Despite strong sales and attendance at the opening, the restaurant struggled, and most customers did not come from the target audience of Watts residents. After opening and closing two Oakland locations, the flagship Watts branch closed in August 2018. As of August 2018, the space remained in use by Locol as a catering kitchen and event space, and the company continues to operate a Locol food truck.
Legacy
After the closure of the Locol flagship and its conversion to an event space, Patterson opened both a restaurant and a coffee shop in Los Angeles. The restaurant takes its name from Patterson's now-closed San Francisco restaurant, Alta. The new restaurant has goals similar to Locol's, and Patterson has referred to it as a " sister restaurant". Several former Locol employees work at Alta Adams, including chef Keith Corbin, former kitchen manager at Locol. Alta Adams has received positive reviews. Choi has rejected descriptions of Locol's closure as a "failure" and has indicated there are plans for a "3.0" version of the chain. Culinary news websiteEater included Locol on its list of "The Saddest Los Angeles Restaurant Closures of 2018".
Menu and aesthetic
The menu focused on providing healthy and accessible versions of a variety of fast foods, including tacos, burgers, and a chicken sandwich.
Accolades
The restaurant won several awards. Food & Wine named it the Best New Restaurant of 2016.
