PAT SANG
Pat Sang grew up in Bangkok Thailand and at an early age he developed a passion for food and cooking from his grandmother. His passion for the culinary arts prompted him to move to the US in 2000. Pat joined the team at Sushi Wabi, Chicago’s premier sushi restaurant where he met Franco Gianni, a founder of the eponymous restaurant. While training under Chef Aki at Sushi Wabi, Pat quickly became a Master Sushi Chef and his passion for Japanese cooking helped Sushi Wabi receive national recognition.
In 2005, Pat and Franco opened Tank Sushi in Lincoln Square as their executive chef. In this role, Pat developed all aspects of the menu at Tank Sushi and the restaurant became a destination for innovative Japanese cuisine.
While operating Sushi Wabi and Tank Sushi, Franco and Pat were approached by the executive team at Roundy’s Supermarkets to help them develop a restaurant style sushi concept within a new supermarket banner they were launching in the Illinois market called Mariano’s. In 2010, this concept was launched under the Oki Sushi name at their first store in Arlington Heights. The concept offered restaurant style innovative sushi utilizing only the freshest and sustainable ingredients. This grocerant concept quickly became a success and Pat continued on with the Mariano’s team to open a total of forty-four stores within eight years. The transition from restaurant to grocery included the creation of menu items that could be sold both made to order as well as grab and go. At the time these items consisted of both traditional and signature maki’s, spring rolls, seared tuna salads as well as nigiri and sashimi plates. In 2016, Pat created a poke bowl program which has now grown to fifteen varieties and accounts for fifty percent of overall sales. He developed an entrée heat and eat program as well as a heat and eat appetizer program which includes best sellers such as Cashew Chicken, Chicken Katsu, Shrimp and Garlic Noodles, in addition to a robust appetizer program consisting of dumplings, gyoza, shumai’s and a truffle lobster Rangoon.
