In college, Paul Imjard studied engineering in Thailand. He moved to California when he was 25 years old to attend graduate school and study economics and finance. But the food and flavors of home were always in the back of his mind.
A corporate job in investment management followed, and he remained in that sector for the next 15 years. But those flavors, comforting and spicy, still beckoned, and he helped his family open a Thai restaurant in the Bay Area around 2012.
“Everything went well,” says Imjard, “and then we thought, ‘Oh, we should expand.’” While his family was looking to grow their restaurant, Imjard felt the pangs of something else: personal growth. “I decided that this career is very fulfilling. So I quit my corporate job and then moved on into the restaurant business.”…