10/06/2026
An open letter to our Shiok Stack community. Part 2: The Battle for Our Standards. 🖤
Here, we’ll address the impact that the lack of tables & ORA delays are having on our operations & your plates
We poured our savings, hearts, and endless hustle into this AMK location to make good quality food accessible and affordable for everyday. That’s why it hurts to receive feedback that our service quality & speed have dropped recently. It cuts deeply, because we pride ourselves on ex*****on.
But here is the honest truth: We’re obsessively protective of your food, but we’re fighting a losing battle against the clock. Anyone who loves food knows that nothing beats having it fresh and hot from the kitchen. Burgers, fried chicken, or fried rice are at their absolute prime right off the grill, the fryer, and the wok.
Yet, because most tables are occupied by unlimited hot plate dining & grill smoke during peak hours, we’re forced into a takeaway-heavy model. It’s not your fault you have to choose takeaway, which is why we absorb the 30–50¢ packaging cost all day long—not just during peak hours. We know that charging a premium on top of not providing a seat just makes it harder for you to support us, and we’d rather take that hit ourselves.
Although we’ve upgraded our takeaway packaging to protect our quality as much as humanly possible on the road, but a meal delivered 30 minutes later by a rider will simply never match the standard we want to give you.
As for speed, naturally, we want nothing more than to hire more hands right now to speed up our operations and ensure every single stack comes out perfect.
But running a business in total uncertainty makes it impossible to move forward responsibly. How do we hire team members and commit to new staff when we are stuck in an operational standstill?
How could we bring people onboard, only to tell them a month later that they no longer have a job because we can't operate anymore. It would be deeply irresponsible to do so.
A lot of you have been dropping by, messaging us, and checking in to ask the big question: Are we staying, or are we moving?
We wanted to give everyone an update because you've been so supportive. The reality is that right now, everything is up in the air. There is no clear timeline on when the new Outdoor Refreshing Area (ORA) will be ready, and we’ve already been told the table situation isn't going to change.
As we are in this limbo, how do we plan our next steps or safely hire the extra help we need to bring our service speeds back to 100%? Do we stay, hire, grow, and serve this neighborhood?
In our next post, we’ll share more thoughts on what this limbo means for the future of Shiok Stack and how we are feeling navigating this space. See you here. 💛
