James Romano
Owner/Bon Banh Mi Southeast Asian Kitchen
• Born in New Jersey, but growing up mostly in Atlanta, I relocated to Charleston when I was
18 and graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007.
• Following college, my early career in the food and beverage industry was spent with
Homegrown Hospitality group here in Charleston. This experience included General Manager
positions with such concepts as Pearlz Oyster Bar here in Charleston.
• During this time, I also attended Culinary Institute of Charleston, studying culinary arts.
• After my role as a General Manager with the group, I moved into a more corporate role that
centered on training and development for the Homegrown group, including opening new
locations around the Southeast and focusing on training of staff and business development.
• With this prior experience as a vital tool, Bon Banh Mi actually started as a farmers market
stand here in Charleston at the Marion Square market in downtown in 2011.
• The desire to open a Banh Mi stand, largely came as a result of being accustomed to
enjoying this specific type of food where I had lived prior, but not being able to enjoy it here in
Charleston. Between the northeast and even Atlanta, I greatly missed the southeast asian
food scene.
• As the popularity of our farmers market stand grew quickly over our first year, we decided to
open our first brick and mortar on Spring Street in 2013.
• Fast forward 5 years, we opened our second location on Ben Sawyer Blvd in Mount Pleasant
in 2018.
• Also at this time, I re-discovered a passion for teaching and training, and took a position as
Adjunct professor at the Art Institute of Charleston and the culinary program within the
school.
• I continued teaching until the new location opened but ultimately took a step back once we
opened the second location. Teaching is something I came back to this past year, however,
when I accepted a position as adjunct professor at the College of Charleston, specifically
teaching a class within the business program and the hospitality and tourism department.
• In 2023, with the momentum from our existing 2 locations leading the way, we opened our
3rd location in North Mount Pleasant.
• Since opening, we have won Best Vietnamese Restaurant in Charleston for 2024 and 2025.
• As of today, all 3 locations are doing great, and we are considering a variety of expansion
opportunities. This may include additional locations in the region, potential franchise
expansion outside the Lowcountry, or possibly a combination of both.
• Regardless of how we grow, one of the most important things to us, is people knowing that
we are Charleston based restaurant, that was literally born and raised here in the Lowcountry,
starting with a tiny little farmers market stand. We don’t have any outside investors, we are
locally funded, locally owned, and the epitome of locally operated.
• Along these lines as well, I recently accepted a board seat with Lowcountry Local First here
in Charleston, which is a local non-profit that focuses solely on the development and support
of small business here in the Lowcountry. I’m very excited to be involved in this great
organization.