...OWNERS..

Bangkok Blue Cuisine of Thailand

Ming, Joyce and Blue Johnson are the owners of Bangkok Blue Thai Restaurant.

MING

Born in Bangkok in 1990, Ming Johnson is now 17 years old and is a straight "A" GATE, Honor Student senior at Rancho Cucamonga High School. He graduated from Ruth Musser Middle School as an honors student with a 4.2 grade average. He has maintained a 4.0 or higher grade average since beginning his schooling at age 3 in Bangkok, Thailand. Ming plays guitar, drums and keyboards and is becoming quite the jazz musician. He also helped to design the interior and blue prints of our restaurant using his CAD computer program. He has dreams of one day becoming a world entrepreneur. Ming loves to travel and has already visited 16 foreign countries throughout Europe and Asia. He loves to read and is also a big fan of international soccer, formula-1 racing, professional tennis and is a walking encyclopedia on the history of Ferrari sports cars. Ming earned his Black Belt in Shorinji Kempo martial arts at age 12 and has been trained in the martial arts for over half of his life. He is tri-lingual (Thai, French & English) and is taking his 4th year of French in high school and is the president of the French Honor Society. Ming loves the South of France and plans to, one day, own a home in Monte Carlo, Menton or Cannes. He is a working and voting partner in the restaurant decision-making process and has learned all aspects of the Thai restaurant business, including Thai cooking, inventory, scheduling and management. College: Ming has been accepted into Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Pomona College, Brown University, UC Santa Barbara and Pitzer College, all with full scholarships! All together, he got accepted into 11 major Universities! He has chosen Stanford University and is now a member of Stanford's class of 2012! Needless to say, we are very proud of Ming! He has a bright future ahead of him!

JOYCE

Joyce Johnson comes from a large Thai restaurant family and she attended college in Bangkok, Thailand and Sydney, Australia, majoring in Business Administration and Hospitality Management. Four of her seven brothers and sisters own five very successful Thai restaurants in and around the Sydney area. Since coming to America from Bangkok in 1994, Joyce has tested and perfected her tasty Thai recipies while working in several Thai restaurants. She also became a manager for the Panda Management Corp. (Panda Express & Panda Inn) and most recently, spent five years as the Associate Manager for Benihana, Ontario where she helped take it to the top of the Benihana chain. After many years of Asian restaurant experience and sampling and scrutinizing the food at Thai restaurants around the globe, Joyce proudly opened Bangkok Blue in August of 2003 and became the very first in her family to own a Thai restaurant in the United States. She is a very talented MASTER in the delicate art of Thai cooking and puts her heart and soul into every exotic dish! Joyce has dreams of one day opening her own Pacific Rim Cuisine restaurant somewhere in Southern California (perhaps Newport or Laguna Beach), where she can expand and combine her creative recipies beyond the realm of just Thai Cuisine. Aside from being a full-time restaurant manager, mom and wife, she is also a member of Shorinji Kempo martial arts and earned her Brown Belt in 2002.

BLUE

Blue Johnson grew up in Pasadena, CA and met Joyce in 1985 while on a concert tour in Australia. Attending college there, Joyce also worked part-time in a local Thai restaurant and on Blue's day off in Sydney he decided to have Thai food for lunch and just happened to pick the restaurant where she was working....... And the rest is history! ("Fate works in many strange ways!") The couple married in 1988 and settled in Thailand. Blue has been actively involved in the music business for over 35 years. Having earned a living both on and off the stage, he has also worked in concert production and artist management with many Gold, Platinum and popular Jazz and Contemporary recording artists: Gloria Estefan, Al Jarreau, David Sanborn, Lee Ritenour, Kenny G., George Benson, B.B. King, Seawind, Sheena Easton, Hiroshima, Barry White, Herp Alpert, just to name a few! Blue traveled the world for 21 years on numerous world tours and has managed concert tours through every state in the union and in over 30 countries world-wide. He also lived and worked in the music business in Thailand for 6 years. Aside from promoting and producing international concerts in Bangkok and doing concert production coordination for major American and Asian recording stars touring throughout the region, Blue also managed the sound & music dept. for KANTANA, Thailand's largest television, video, film production studios. Blue speaks fluent Thai and has worked concerts in all major venues in Bangkok and as a promoter, was the first to bring recording artists B.B. King, David Sanborn, Patti Austin, Michael Paulo, Don Grusin, Carl Anderson, Pauline Wilson, Ernie Watts, Charlie Haden, Robben Ford, Freddy Ravel, Eric Marienthal, Abe Laboriel and David Garfield to Thailand. Blue holds a second dan Black Belt in Shorinji Kempo Zen Martial Arts and has also released two Jazz-World Music CD's of his own, which are both available at Bangkok Blue Thai Restaurant.

The JOHNSONS:

The Johnsons have river-front property along the Lao River, just Souh of the town of Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand and also own a home near Mae Chan (just North of Chiang Rai). It is a place of peace and tranquility, with friendly neighbors, clean air and quiet, natural beauty. The Lao River and all of its beautiful surroundings, creates an easy-going, slower-paced lifestyle that allows you plenty of time to reflect upon and appreciate all your many blessings, your life, your friends and your family.

After Ming gets situated in college, the Johnsons plan to return to Chiang Rai and retire there.

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