St. Louis Restaurant Reviews awarded Sasimonthon Ongartsutthikul, owner of Thai Kitchen restaurants, the Restaurateur of the Year Award in 2022.
ST LOUIS, MO (StLouisRestaurantReview) St. Louis Restaurant Review is excited to announce our first award. The award is “Restaurateur of the Year Award.”
We have been publishing restaurant reviews and news online since 2014. Each year, this award will be given guidelines to ensure we find the best restaurateurs in the St. Louis region. Operating a successful restaurant is one of the most challenging small businesses to operate. It requires a strong focus, sufficient cash flow, and an understanding of managing employees and meeting customers’ expectations. It is a big challenge! Unfortunately, the past two years have been even more challenging due to the pandemic.
Our selection makes the challenge appear easy, but we learned how hard she works and how dedicated she is to her employees and customers, resulting in both returning the same to her. She leads by example!
We are honored to award the St. Louis Restaurant Review Restaurateur Award – 2022 to Sasimonthon Ongartsutthikul. She goes by Andie. She owns the Thai Kitchen chain; all locations have award-winning online customer reviews.
Currently, Andie owns three Thai Kitchen locations, but four exist in the St. Louis region. She owns and manages the locations in O’Fallon, St. Charles, and Wentzville, while her brother and sister-in-law own and operate the Florissant location.
- Florissant, MO (owned by Andie’s brother and sister-in-law)
- O’Fallon, MO
- St. Charles, MO
- Wentzville, MO
Her recipes are secret family recipes, and her mother, Rose, who is 74 years old, works with Andie to contribute to the family’s success. In addition, Andie’s restaurants have impressive support from her three daughters, Pam, Nickie, and Katie.
Andie migrated from Thailand to the U.S. in 1995. She owned a restaurant in Bangkok and sold it to relocate with her husband and children. Her challenges in life prepared her for the success she is experiencing now. Her character, wisdom, and hard work create the foundation of her success.
She opened her first U.S. restaurant in 1997 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and has since opened and sold fifteen restaurants to various family members and other restauranteurs.
Her success is well deserved after many challenges faced in her life. However, the pandemic is not her most significant challenge because she survived and opened a new location during the pandemic, which has been successful.
The most exciting factor is that she does not take her success for granted. She appreciates her customers, employees, and family for their support. She told us, “I couldn’t have done it without them.” She appreciates what vendors do to help her daily and is not afraid to express her appreciation. As respect and humble appreciation become impossible in everyday life, they are refreshing and easy to appreciate once you find them.
After spending a significant amount of time with Andie, it is apparent that the most crucial component to her success is her desire to make her customers happy. This is evident by the locations’ online customer reviews and simply watching her work. She commonly knows the customers by name and monitors everything in the restaurant to ensure they meet her standards.
She visits most locations regularly and knows everything going on. She is supported and loved by a loyal and dedicated staff. Most of the employees are from Thailand, making management easy while helping to create the Thai atmosphere at each location.
However, the most outstanding support is her customers. Her online reviews rank her restaurants at impressive, award-winning levels, making any restaurant owner jealous of the love shared online.
Unfortunately, many restaurant owners ignore negative reviews and constructively take criticism. However, Andie and her employees ensure that the customers are happy before leaving her establishments. The employees are kind and well-trained. They understand her expectations and perform accordingly.
As Wikipedia has written, Thai cuisines are among the most loved cuisines globally.
It could have been difficult to make a decision with hundreds of quality, top-rated restaurants in the St. Louis region. However, after considering the following factors and getting to know Andie, the decision became easy.
Factors we considered to make our decision:
- Online customer reviews
- History of owner
- Performance of owner
- Employee loyalty and satisfaction
- Financial stability of establishment
All Thai Kitchen locations offer online ordering, delivery, and dine-in. All locations are clean and disinfected to protect the staff and customers.
The results of Andie’s efforts are excellent Thai cuisine prepared and served to great customers who appreciate the hard work of a great restaurateur, entitlering her to the Restaurateur of the Year Award—2022.
Visit each location’s web page or order online.
Articles on St. Louis Restaurant Review featuring Andie or Thai Kitchen:
The article was announced on STL.News, and 24-7 Press Release.
Martin Smith is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of St. Louis Restaurant Review, STL.News, USPress.News, and STL.Directory. He is a member of the United States Press Agency (ID: 31659) and the US Press Agency.
