Jin Hwan Park

Jin Hwan Park, the Chief Executive Officer, owner, and founder of three renowned Asian restaurants in and around Champaign, Illinois, has been driven by a strong mind for business and a desire to always deliver a good final product. Born and raised in South Korea, he immigrated to the United States in 2000 as a teenager; throughout his upbringing, he was influenced by his father, a successful businessman, and eventually strived to combine his passions—socializing, music, good food, and interior design—by running his own restaurant. Upon graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he opened Sakanaya, an immaculately-designed Japanese eatery with a revolving sushi bar, in 2013. In its location, on Green Street in Champaign, it serves as “the first restaurant to go for authentic Japanese food.” Running on love and passion, and not prior experience as a restauranteur, Mr. Park assembled a dynamic team of managers and chefs to ensure the best service for his customers.

In addition to Sakanaya, Mr. Park has been active as the founder and chief executive officer of Miga since 2014 and NAYA Bar & Eatery, based in the college-based Campustown, since 2019. Through pure innovation, dedication, and a unique attention to aesthetics—upscale yet casual—he made quite the impact on the dining scene in the city of Champaign. As a reflection of this accomplishment, he was named the Restaurateur of the Decade within the “BEST Food + Drink of the Decade” feature of Smile Politely magazine in 2019. “You always have fun there, because it’s been designed to make you feel happy to be there,” the article boasted about Sakanaya, NAYA, and Miga.

As his first venture into the challenging world of restaurants, Mr. Park considers Sakanaya to be his proudest achievement—even the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t keep crowds from dining there, with sales not significantly affected. Since restrictions have eased, the Japanese restaurant is back to thriving with lines out the door. Looking toward the future, he hopes to open more restaurants with new concepts located at Campustown so that students and faculty have places to go “where they can make memories.”