Meet Ethan Banayan, Ryan Elyahouzadeh, Omeed Minoofar | Restaurant Owners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ethan Banayan, Ryan Elyahouzadeh, Omeed Minoofar and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ethan Banayan, Ryan Elyahouzadeh, Omeed Minoofar, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
From an outsider’s perspective, the restaurant industry seems like a piece of cake. You make food, serve guests, and all is well. As first-timers in the industry, we learned that the hospitality portion is even more important than the food portion of the business. You will quickly learn your restaurant will cease to exist without top-class hospitality. People will always go to restaurants with good food, but they won’t go back if they aren’t treated well.
When we first started Sobuneh, we operated out of a back house. You’d come upstairs to see a pickup table with a couch and TV, which often had football playing. We’d be cooking, talking, and hanging out with each guest that came by. We truly welcomed each person who came up those steps into our home and treated them like we’d known them for years, as if they were another member of our family. That’s the essence of how we like to treat guests—each time you walk through our doors, it’s as if you’ve entered your own home. Hence, our slogan is “Not Just a Café, a Taste of Home.”
As guests continued to come back, we started to genuinely get to know and connect with them, and now many of them have turned into our friends. From our perspective, it’s one of our favorite things about this industry: getting to make new friends each day.
When we finally moved out of our house and into our current home at Colony, a cloud kitchen, we realized it wasn’t going to be easy to create that same connection with guests, since we quite literally had no front-of-house or serving area anymore. We felt as if the connection with guests was dissipating, and for the first time, something happened. We got a negative review. When running a restaurant, it is inevitable that you will have a slip-up. You can get a huge rush and get slammed with orders, which increases wait times, or you can make a mistake packing an order. At the end of the day, we’re all human, and mistakes are bound to happen—and when they do, the customer typically isn’t very happy.
One thing we learned is that people are understanding when you speak to them yourself and treat them as if you would a guest in your own home. That’s where it clicked. Just because we weren’t in our home anymore didn’t mean we couldn’t treat people the same way; it would just take some adjustment on our end to find the best way to do it.
As Iranian Americans, we often watched our parents host parties where their service toward guests was better than the service at a 5-star hotel. Before you could even finish your dinner, they were coming around with more food and putting it on your plate. They’d constantly check on guests in our home and ask them how things were throughout the event. We learned to make it a priority to do the exact same with our guests.
We now make it a priority to do rounds and walk around the seating area to see how everyone is enjoying everything. Just because we weren’t at the house anymore didn’t mean we couldn’t make conversation with customers and continue to build the friendships we once did daily. However, as good as this all sounds, sometimes it’s just not possible to always be out there, as we still help in the kitchen to make sure the absolute best food comes out. We read every review, read every Instagram DM, and try to answer every call to hear what our customers have to say. We make it a priority to respond and chat with customers to ensure their voices are heard and that we can give them the Sobuneh experience they came for.
In the restaurant industry, it’s easy to think great food is all it takes to succeed, but what truly keeps guests coming back is the experience and connection you build with them. At Sobuneh, we’ve learned that hospitality goes beyond the kitchen—it’s about making every guest feel like family, whether they’re dining in a cozy home or ordering from a cloud kitchen. No matter the setting, treating customers with care and genuine attention is what turns a one-time visitor into a lifelong friend.

What should our readers know about your business?
We first started Sobuneh with a simple goal: to create the best breakfast burrito possible. While that mission continues, we’ve realized that the real reward is enjoying the journey along the way. We’ve come to value every relationship we’ve built because of Sobuneh, and our favorite moments are spent chatting with customers and welcoming them through our doors. The little things matter to us, like when someone tells us they can’t live without our food or that we make their favorite breakfast burrito. Even better is hearing that we’ve created an unforgettable experience for them when they visit.
Although it may seem like we’re an overnight sensation, the truth is that we didn’t get here easily. Outsiders often see how busy we are and think how quickly everything happened, but they don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. We’ve had long days, waking up at 6 a.m., and have gone over three weeks without a single day off. Every moment, second, and ounce of energy has been poured into Sobuneh because we love it. It’s our baby, and we want to see it grow and thrive. There’s really only one answer for how we’ve gotten this far, and it’s hard work—there are no shortcuts.
With three partners, none of whom had much experience running or owning a restaurant, we’ve been learning on the fly. Every day teaches us new lessons about what to do and what not to do. One of the most important things we’ve learned is how crucial the customer experience is. We’ve made it our mission to go above and beyond for every guest, with every visit.
On the operational side, managing the kitchen has been a challenge of its own. We’ve learned how to effectively control inventory to keep costs down while ensuring that our ingredients are as fresh as possible. After all, fresh ingredients are key to creating the best food experience for our customers.
We want people to know that Sobuneh is more than just a café or a spot to grab food—it’s a second home. Our goal is not only to create great food but also to offer an experience that sticks with you. Sobuneh is all about our roots, connecting with our guests, and staying true to who we are.
It hasn’t always been easy, but every challenge has taught us something new. We’re excited for what’s ahead and can’t wait to keep bringing people not just food, but a genuine “Taste of Home.”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’re huge foodies and here’s a short list of our favorite spots in LA:

Bagels – Courage Bagels and Jyan Isaac Bread
Pizza – Mieve
Coffee – Cafe Luxxe, La Colombe, Blue Bottle, Maru, and Mennottis
Matcha – Bonsai Coffee Bar and Community Goods
Burgers – Honor Bar and In n Out
Chicken Sandwich – Any Hillstone Restaurant and Howlin Rays
Thai – Anajak and La Ong
Korean BBQ – Jjukku Jjukku
Breakfast Burritos – Sobuneh duh
Sandwiches – Bay Cities, Lorenzo, The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, Carla Cafe, and All about the Bread
Drinks – Calabra Rooftop, Belles Beach House, and Dante
Sushi – Shibuya, Sushi Fumi, Yume and Sushi Yuzu
Vietnamese – Bun and Mi
Froyo – the Big Chill
Cookies – Bristol Farms and Paderia
Pasta – Cento Pasta Bar and Osteria Mozza
Kabob – Darya and Sadaf
Street Tacos – La Flamitas Mixtas and Angels Tijuana Tacos

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We’d love to give a special thank you to all our customers that have supported us to this point, we wouldn’t be here without you. Our families for the constant support they’ve given us. The people at Colony Cooks for giving us a home to make our dream a reality.

Website: https://www.sobuneh.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobunehla/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sobuneh

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565562401359

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sobuneh-los-angeles-3

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sobuneh