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Following your passion and doing it with loved ones is the recipe for success. Malai Kitchen co-founders and husband-and-wife team Braden and Yasmin Wages discovered that secret early in their careers.
After meeting at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration and working together while dating in Napa, the pair knew they wanted to build a life together in and out of the kitchen. Now, after more than 13 years owning and operating multiple locations of Malai Kitchen, executive chef Braden and proprietor Yasmin know exactly how much the other contributes to their continued success.
Igniting The Flame
Yasmin and Braden grew up in vastly different hospitality environments. While Yasmin’s family was invested in the hotel industry, Braden’s family had roots in entertainment, with his grandfather opening an amusement park in upstate New York in the ’50s.
“As children growing up, we got to play there, and then when we were old enough, we worked there,” Braden says. “The area that I enjoyed and worked in was food service. So I got really good at making crumble cakes and pizzas and hot dogs, all the amusement park foods. I really loved it.”
Similarly, Yasmin was drawn to food from a young age thanks to many family vacations.
“My dad loves food. No matter where we were, he was more excited about the coffee and pastry he was going to have that morning than what museum we were going to go to,” Yasmin says. “That rubbed off on me.”
Yasmin and Braden were further exposed to the ins and outs of the restaurant business at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration, which is widely considered to be the No. 1 hospitality school in the country.
“Before I went to college, I had never really ever eaten at a fancy restaurant,” Braden says. “It was definitely more humble cooking. From day one, you take classes in restaurant and hotel management, and the one area I loved right out of the gate was the restaurant side. My passion only grew from there.”
Following graduation, the couple were both offered positions with the Hillstone Restaurant Group. After reviewing different location opportunities, they requested to be placed in Napa, California.
“We all visited Napa the year before,” Braden says. “We thought we won the lottery by going to work in Napa Valley. There was so much great food and wine. It was beautiful — the best.”
After working in various Californian restaurants, the couple ventured south as Braden continued working for the Hillstone Restaurant Group as the general manager of R+D Kitchen in Dallas. Yasmin grew up in Weatherford, so both saw opportunity lurking in the Lone Star State.
“It’s relatively expensive to do anything in California, and we wanted to be closer to family,” Braden explains. “We wanted to be in a place where we could start putting the pieces together of a restaurant of our own.”
Building The Empire
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While brainstorming concepts, the Wages were drawn toward Southeast Asian flavors. After exploring the DFW dining scene, the two saw a gap in the market.
“From traveling in Thailand and Vietnam, eating in California and cooking at home, there was kind of a difference between home-cooked Thai food you would eat in Thailand versus what you would get in a Thai restaurant,” Braden says. “We loved the cuisine, and we wanted to do something that was different from what other people were doing.”
The two came up with the Malai Kitchen concept in early 2010 and opened their doors in Uptown Dallas in January 2011. The initial location featured a concise menu, spotlighting Thai and Vietnamese favorites made with fresh, clean ingredients. Rather than relying on pre-made pastes and packaged goods, the food program featured craft cooking, which helped them put a distinct stamp on the local dining scene.
With time, Malai Kitchen’s food program continued to grow thanks to the pair’s eye for purposeful evolution. To this day, Braden and Yasmin embrace growth and draw inspiration from trips back to the region. The two typically go to Southeast Asia every year, usually with their children in tow.
“For the most part, we have grown from our travels. We travel so we can realign our palates and see what’s trending in Southeast Asia,” Yasmin says. “We learn new things every time we go.”
With each visit to Southeast Asia, the Wages find inspiration for a new offering or a different way to look at an existing menu item. After five years of building out the concept, they were ready to expand their restaurant footprint.
“Our menu evolved, and we grew into ourselves,” Braden says. “It took us five years to feel comfortable expanding.”
The pair wanted to tap into a new market with a second spot, but they wanted it to be close enough to still manage the original storefront. Upon finding Park Village in Southlake in 2016, the daring couple knew it was the right fit for their next culinary adventure. Malai Kitchen quickly became an anchor for the entertainment district and has remained one of the longest tenants of Park Village.
“We were drawn to Southlake because it had that strong community feel,” Braden says. “It’s got good foot traffic, a liveliness and people who love quality food.”
It’s not just the plates that have expanded over time —Braden also brought back tools integral to Southeast Asian cuisine to recreate flavors for local diners. Whether it was finding a coconut rotary grater and press to yield fresh coconut milk or a sugar cane juicer to create made-to-order juice, Braden knew those fresh flavors would captivate diners’ taste buds.
The menu includes craveable curries, wok-fried rice dishes and scrumptious noodle entrees, as well as elevated signature plates like a whole branzino, Vietnamese barbecue pork ribs and peanut-encrusted ruby trout.
“That’s the kind of food we want to be able to share,” Braden says. The Wages also wanted to bring Bia Hoi, a light rice lager, back to the states after experiencing it in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2012.
“Every afternoon around 3 p.m., all these stores pop out and put out all these tables and chairs down the street. All the neighbors come down and sit and have snacks and beer,” Yasmin explains. “It was such a quintessential community experience. It was something we had to find a way to recreate. The beer is delightful. It’s light, and it goes really well with food. We thought, ‘It's hot in Dallas, and people would love this.’”
After doing a bit of research, Yasmin says they couldn’t find anyone who made this kind of beer in the U.S., so they embraced internal resources. One of Malai Kitchen’s servers was a home brewer, so he worked with Braden to craft their own version of Bia Hoi.
“He and Braden got together, and a lot of bad batches later, we found a decent batch,” Yasmin says.
From there, the house-brewed beer evolved similar to the restaurant once Braden and Yasmin found a footing.
“It was never really a conscious decision to have a full-blown brew pub,” Braden says. “It was baby steps. One beer turned into three beers and our small batches turned into slightly larger batches.”
Malai Kitchen’s current head brewer Justin Meyers knows why Bia Hoi suits the menu so well.
“It’s delicate and smooth while having a subtle complexity for something that is a light rice lager,” Justin explains.
After joining the Malai Kitchen family in 2020, Justin says he was in the right place at the right time and was ready to help flesh out the full beer program.
“I think my deep training and passion for traditional German lager brewing, combined with the rich flavors of the southeast Asian cultures the restaurant is based on, makes for a unique beer experience when they are combined,” Justin says.
Malai currently offers several craft brews that complement its cooking style. Quick yet controlled growth is not only seen through their bar program. Malai Kitchen opened its third location in Fort Worth’s The Shops at Clearfork in 2017, and while other restaurants were stabilizing after the pandemic, the Wages were opening the doors to their fourth location in Dallas’ Preston Center in November 2021.
Through it all, Braden and Yasmin credit each other for continued success.
“We have opposite strengths and weaknesses that are complementary,” Braden says. “I wouldn’t want to open a business on my own, but her leadership, her ability to talk to guests and her attention to detail gives me confidence to do what I enjoy doing... Also, we are madly in love. It’s more fun that way.”
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Fostering A Family
From the beginning, the Wages continued to lean on not only each other, but also their growing team to cultivate Malai Kitchen. That drive to create an exciting culinary environment helped Braden and Yasmin nurture talent from within.
“We believe in promoting from within,” Yasmin says. “All of our GMs were servers or bartenders with us. All bartenders start out as servers. I think 100% of our management team are in their positions because they were promoted from servers. Same with the kitchen, all the restaurants are run by managers who were prep cooks or line cooks before, so they know all the recipes. They understand our passion for fresh ingredients and can really get behind it and make their team get behind it.”
That commitment to employee growth ensures the staff, 185 people strong, exudes a collective vision.
“Our team understands the culture. They understand our service style. They have a full knowledge of what Malai is, what we want Malai to be and where we are headed,” Yasmin says. “When you do it that way, you have a culture that stays consistent.”
The Wages are invested in retention, so much so that they created a travel program for full-time employees. After spending three years with Malai Kitchen, it is company policy to purchase employees a round-trip ticket to Southeast Asia and provide them with a stipend to experience the culture themselves. By the end of this year, more than 20 employees will have benefitted from this program.
“We’ll give you tips and help you plan your trip if you want it, but otherwise, you’re free to go and do what you please,” Yasmin says. General managers, on the other hand, not only go to Southeast Asia, but they travel with Braden and Yasmin to experience the culinary terrain from their perspective. The pair curates each trip so GMs have unique takeaways.
“It’s fun to hear them come back and hear their excitement and get so much more passionate about the food and have a better knowledge of why we think the way we do,” Yasmin says.
Southlake general manager Mike Arcilla started at Malai Kitchen as a server in 2017, and he came into this role in March after acting as the Fort Worth GM since 2021. For his trip, the three traveled to Thailand, Bangkok and Chiang Rai.
“My favorite experience was just walking around the different cities, soaking in the culture and exploring the local markets,” Mike says.
Former Southlake general manager and current Preston Center general manager Taylor Hamilton, on the other hand, ventured to Bangkok, Thailand and Vietnam.
“My favorite experience was the tons and tons of incredible food I couldn’t stay away from,” Taylor says. “That along with the whole new outlook on life I took away from experiencing the gracious, gentle people I met there.”
She says she's grateful to work for a company committed to nurturing talent.
“Rewarding excellence with deserved opportunities and growth is the recipe for a motivating workplace,” Taylor says.
But it’s not just the lucky employees who have experienced the program that benefit from this commitment.
“Braden and Yasmin know each employee’s name — front and back — every location,” Taylor continues. “They invest in the team’s well-being, ensuring they don’t overextend themselves, and they feel supported. Their presence isn’t just felt in the restaurant from day to day — it extends into the community and family they’ve built with their team.”
Malai Kitchen’s success proves working together produces more than one can do alone.
“Braden and Yasmin are thoughtful and kindhearted people,” Mike says. “Braden is great with finding the small details and having an open mind. He is also just constantly energetic, which he brings to the restaurant. Yasmin is great with always looking for ways she can help, as well as [showing] a different way to approach an obstacle. She also has a great sense of humor. I’m fortunate to have these kinds of leaders in my career.”
That energy radiates off the staff and translates over to both regular and new customers. It’s easy to feel both at home and swept into a new dining experience with each visit.