After owning and operating a restaurant in downtown Springfield for two years, Kimsimone Manning says she’s ready to catch her breath before she decides on her next move.
“I have a list of projects that I’ve pushed to the back burner that have nothing to do with cooking,” Manning said. “I’m going to breathe – it’s been two years since I’ve reflected on where I actually see my life going.”
Manning originally teamed up with a business partner to open Seoul 4 Soul in the upper level of Buzz Bomb Brewing Company’s building at 406 E. Adams St. in January 2024. The business briefly closed in August of that year and Manning then reopened the Korean bistro as a solo venture under the name Taste of Seoul.
Now, with Buzz Bomb closing its doors at the end of the month, Manning said she’s going to take some time before deciding whether to reopen in a new location.
“I kind of knew this was going to happen, so I took on two other jobs,” she said, telling SBJ that she has been working in health care in addition to working at another restaurant in a larger community on the weekends.
Manning said she has looked at other locations, but the former restaurants that are available are more overhead than she wants to take on and other spaces would require extensive modifications.
“A build-out for a restaurant is so expensive. I don’t want to get myself stuck in something that’s not feasible to maintain,” she said. “And although I would love to reopen someday, I’m not sure where. I don’t know that I’d do it downtown again. There’s not a lot of foot traffic, so it makes it really hard to do business.”
Another option she’s considered that would allow her to keep her overhead low and be more mobile is opening a food truck.
“I am working on getting a food trailer, and I think I could have it up and running by this summer,” Manning said.
She said one advantage of going that route would be the ability to travel – she envisions taking her food truck throughout the continental U.S., although she said she would return to Springfield each August for the Illinois State Fair.
Manning is also weighing the option of putting her own business on hold for a year or so in order to save up money for a new venture.
“I’ve been applying for cruise ships to go cook,” she said, “which would also allow me to travel. I might give myself a year of doing something like that.”
Manning said she sees the impending closure as an opportunity “to let my passion fly in every direction to see what sticks. I’m surrendering it all over to God and allowing Him to lead me whatever direction He wants me to go.”