Our Story
If Los Angeles had a song, one of those songs just might be the knocking sound of a Kogi truck engine whistling through the streets on its way to feed the city. If LA had an anthem, you’d find it in our collective appetite for deliciousness.
Kogi unknowingly set off a flavor bomb that would shift the foundations of the food industry forever, making waiting in line a natural occurrence.
Kogi started at midnight in November 2008 when we hit the streets of Los Angeles with our Korean BBQ tacos. We merged Twitter, smartphones, and a tortilla in the middle of the night outside a Hollywood nightclub. We were just an anonymous group of rascals cooking what spoke to us. But crowds and cravings soon followed as our flavors brought people together, and love spread through the streets and neighborhoods.
Over the years, we’ve gone on to feed almost every corner of Southern California, from Los Angeles to Orange County, the South Bay, the Valley, the Inland Empire, Ventura County, and Santa Barbara County. We’ve also served major music festivals and even traveled worldwide.
Growing the Kogi Family
Our operation has grown to include several food trucks, a full-service catering operation, a bar called Alibi Room, our live-fire street taco stand Tacos Por Vida, and our rice bowl counter Chego!, which we’re excited to bring back soon.
Our Kogi team is deeply dedicated to the communities and customers who have supported us throughout the years. We feed everyone and strive to bring smiles with every taco, every day, everywhere. We mobilize during times of crisis and show up wherever we’re needed. While we remain true to our roots, we never stop pushing forward.
Kogi Por Vida. For Life.
Meet Roy Choi
If you know Kogi, you probably know our Papi, our chef, our spiritual leader, and resident space cadet: Roy Choi.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Los Angeles, California, Roy Choi is widely recognized as one of the architects of the modern food truck movement. Through Kogi BBQ, he helped redefine street food by combining bold flavors, social media, and community while honoring the rich street food culture that paved the way.
Roy is also the creator and host of the civic-minded television series Broken Bread on KCET/Tastemade, earning the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Host in 2020. On the global stage, he co-hosts Netflix’s hit cooking series The Chef Show alongside Jon Favreau.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Roy has received numerous accolades throughout his career. In 2010, Food & Wine named him Best New Chef. His cookbook and memoir, L.A. Son, became a New York Times Bestseller in 2013. He was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2016, and in 2017, LocoL in Watts received the first-ever Los Angeles Times Restaurant of the Year award.
Today, Roy continues to call Los Angeles home, where he remains a passionate voice and advocate for street food culture—past, present, and future. He is the co-owner, co-founder, and chef behind Kogi BBQ, Chego!, Best Friend at Park MGM Las Vegas, and LocoL.
