Aloy Thai Expands with a Fast-Casual Offshoot and Big Plans for the Future

"Right now, when you think about Mexican food, you think of Chipotle. When you think of Chinese, it's Panda Express. When you think of Thai, there's not really anything that is fast-casual and growing," says Mui Fisher of her vision for the new Aloy Thai Eatery at 211 East Seventh Avenue, which is celebrating its grand opening on January 13.

The fast-casual concept is an offshoot of Aloy Thai Cuisine in Boulder, which was founded by Kim Naka in 2006 after she immigrated to the United States from Thailand with her two daughters, Bo Bean and Arisa Boden. In 2016, the family debuted a slightly more modern take on the restaurant with a Denver offshoot called Aloy Modern Thai at 2134 Larimer Street.

But Fisher, who went to school with Bean in Thailand and has been an integral part of the previous two Aloys, has long had a vision of adding a fast-casual version of the eatery. After moving to the United States, she spent two years working for Panda Express so that she could "learn how they do it, how they expanded, their culture, how they treat their employees," she explains.

Her biggest takeaway: "They value people a lot. I think that's their number-one priority. ... They invest in their people, and they believe in their people," she says.
Fisher plans to bring that approach to this new venture, and has been training staff at the other Aloy locations since March. Aloy Thai Eatery's chef is Orathai Sikhumlek, who came to the U.S. from Thailand in 2014 and is part-owner of the restaurant, which will become her "home store," Fisher says. As the brand expands, her plan is to partner with a chef at each location, who will have some ownership in the business "so they can feel that it is their restaurant and they're our family, that we're working together as a team," she explains.

The current Aloy team began looking for spaces that would work for a fast-casual location in 2019; the former Daikon location finally presented just the right size in a neighborhood with a good mix of both businesses and residential areas. Between delays in city permitting, construction labor shortages and supply-chain issues, though, the opening process has been long: The original goal was to be in business by June. "There's a lot of things I've learned," Fisher says. "The budget is three times more than what I thought it was going to be. And the timing was also three times more."

Now, however, the opening has finally arrived. The new location will offer limited seating both inside and outside, as long as its block on East Seventh Avenue remains closed to traffic.
Before COVID, Fisher says that 35 to 40 percent of the business at the first two Aloy locations was takeout. Now it's closer to 65 percent, and she's expecting a similar percentage at the Eatery. The menu at this outpost has been trimmed down to the fifteen most popular items, including staples like pad Thai and drunken noodles, as well as the two dishes that were featured on Guy Fieri's Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2017: khao soi and lemongrass chicken.

With slightly smaller portions than what you'll find at the full-service Aloy Thai Cuisine and Aloy Modern, these will also ring in at a lower price point, around $15 per entree. There will also be a selection of appetizers and salads, as well as cocktails. The Eatery will be open seven days a week for both lunch and dinner.

One thing that remains a constant for all three Aloy concepts is a commitment to using only the highest-quality ingredients, from all-natural meats and free-range eggs to organic tofu, locally sourced produce,
and rice oil versus the more commonly used soybean oil (despite its being double the price), because "it's better for you," Fisher notes. "I believe that what you want to eat is what you want to serve.

"I don't want to buy something that I wouldn't serve my daughter, so I'm a little picky on the quality of the products, but I think it's reflected in the texture and flavor of the dish," she adds.

Aloy Thai Eatery is located at 211 East Seventh Avenue and is open from noon to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit aloyeatery.com.