VISALIA – A Southern California-based restaurant chain offering healthy rice bowls is coming to Visalia.
Flame Broiler will open its first location north of Visalia in the former Pieology pizza building on South Mooney Boulevard. That news is from Paynter Realty executive Jim Sanders, who said they are already remodeling the building to make way for the new chain.
The restaurant offers natural chicken, organic tofu, choice Angus beef and other healthy options in rice bowls with bold Korean flavor. Simply put, healthier options are what people want.
Owner Young Lee immigrated from South Korea to Los Angeles in 1974 and quickly noticed there was a lack of healthy yet affordable restaurants. In 1994, he and his wife Sarah created the recipe for the restaurant’s signature sauce, Simply Magic, in their home kitchen. The next year they opened the first Flame Broiler in Orange County. The restaurant owners started franchising the quick-serve locations in 1999 and have now grown the chain to 124 locations, mostly in Southern California, but a few in other states, such as Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Florida.
The Lee family also shares their success with those less fortunate. Since 2009, Young Lee has pledged to sponsor two children through Christian child advocacy ministry Compassion International for every Flame Broiler location he opens. Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion provides Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training.
Today, Compassion helps more than 2.0 million infants, children and young adults in 25 of the world’s poorest countries.