Local entrepreneurs make culinary venture the family business

SAN MATEO, CALIF, USA, November 10, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Winner Winner Hot Chicken has reopened at Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, offering elevated chef-created cuisine in a family-friendly experience. The restaurant held a soft opening in early March, and weathered the pandemic over the summer on a limited operations model. The family is celebrating its long-awaiting public opening this week.

Chef-partners Jeremy Cheng and Randy Magpantay, both graduates of the California Culinary Academy and the chefs behind the cuisine at several top Peninsula fine dining establishments (TOWN, Milagros and Nola for Cheng) and progressive culinary enterprises (Chef Fitness Inc., William Jay Catering, and Kings Sandwich Co. for Magpantay) have joined forces with their families to provide a fresh new dining experience in the contemporary and eclectic Dining Terrace at Hillsdale Shopping Center.

“We’re combining our experience from upscale restaurants and as small business operators with a concept that blends with the various eateries here at Hillsdale,” said Jeremy Cheng, who was born in Manila, where fried chicken is an essential dish. “Many of our peers here come from a background in fine dining, like the people behind Refuge, Shake Shack, and Pallete Tea House. It’s a chef-driven, experience concept—using the best products, preparing them with care, yielding the best, most delicious results.”

Cheng joined with Magpantay in 2017, by then a catering business owner and personal chef to local sports celebrities, to launch a successful joint venture, William Jay Catering. The evolution to a restaurant concept is fueled by the passion to share their culinary experience as mindful new parents, offering Peninsula residents a combination of savory pleasures with convenience and health consciousness in mind.

“We are still fresh into parenthood,” says Magpantay. “Like many of the people in San Mateo, we’ve spent countless hours at Hillsdale Shopping Center and want to provide meals where you don’t need to think twice about what you’re eating, or what your kids are eating.”

Winner Winner Hot Chicken serves a local version of Nashville Style Hot Chicken (air-chilled, antibiotic free) along with fresh sides and salads, including a vegan Barry's Bowl inspired by Barry's Bootcamp, and is committed to obtain locally-sourced ingredients and follow sustainable practices wherever possible. A rotating menu of locally made desserts such as individual twinkies and key lime tarts are designed to stir up nostalgic memories among neighbors who grew up on the Peninsula. The restaurant also offers a premium selection of beverages, including Bay Area beers and California wines, Kelvin Organic Slushies, plus cold pressed juices from Pressed Juicery.

Early on, the partners agreed on a business model that would provide better balance for their growing families. Jeremy's wife Bridgette joined the team after managing Milagros Latin Kitchen over the past 10 years, rebranding and rebuilding service standards. She has brought her high-level service background and beverage knowledge to help elevate the service in the quick-service environment. Randy's wife Jaein helps run operations with Bridgette day to day.

“Jeremy and Randy grew up coming to Hillsdale after school, and now the whole area is getting revitalized. We love what this opportunity has brought to us, and we want to bring the same to our neighbors on the Peninsula,” said Jaein Magpantay.

“As new mothers, we want to provide healthy, quality, and fun food to other local families,” said Bridgette Cheng. “'Having healthy options in an easily accessible environment is a big priority for all of us.”

During the pandemic, Winner Winner operated across various formats, supporting local hospitals and front line workers, to home-based catering, to reduced operations and takeout-only service. As San Mateo County has entered the Orange Tier, the restaurant has returned to modified full service, in accordance with local and state health ordinances.

Winner Winner Hot Chicken is located in the Dining Terrace by ShareTea. Hours of operation follow mall hours, currently Wednesday - Saturday from 11am-7pm and Sunday from 11am-6pm. For more information, visit www.winnerchicken.net, www.hillsdale.com or call 650-532-1022.

Diana Mendez
Singer Associates
+1 4086607406
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