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Meet Cristian Liang of Common Theory Public House in Kearny Mesa

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristian Liang.

Cristian, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ll start with a little intro and background! I am one of the owners here at Common Theory Public House, and my other business partner is Joon Lee. Joon and I have known each other for about 18 years now; we met during our high school years, and really became good friends during our studies at UCSD. I graduated from UCSD with a BS in Structural Engineering and pursued a career path with a local Geotechnical Engineering firm here in San Diego. I spent about 7-8 years between a few engineering firms in town, meanwhile Joon had gotten into the hospitality business by opening a franchise of Rice King brand fast-food.

The corporate gig was paying well and was very stable; however, I was at a point in my life where I felt I needed to do more, do more for myself and for my growing family. So out of this entrepreneurship, Joon and I started brainstorming and formed a partnership in 2013. Starting my first business in the restaurant industry was comfortable to me since I basically grew up in a restaurant! My parents built, owned, and operated a Chinese Restaurants for over 30 years. As a kid I grew up helping and working the family business after school and on the weekends.

The concept behind Common Theory Public House was inspired by our group of friends who were always in search of quality craft beers, great food, and an overall good time. We always found ourselves hanging out and sharing beers at each other’s houses, or brewery hopping on the weekends. We would get excited going to our local liquor stores to see what new IPAs they had each week, always enjoyed exploring new beers!

So we sectioned-off these three components;

(1) being lovers of craft beer ourselves, we wanted design a beer program that offered a rotating selection of high quality craft beers. We set out to procure simply the greatest tasting beers around, from here in San Diego and all over the country and abroad. And it’s not a surprise that a lot of these amazing beers are brewed right here in our home town! Our beer philosophy is that there should always be something available for everyone, and if a specific style of beer isn’t available, we would make sure to find our guests a beer that suited their palate. We let our customers know that we apply the literal meaning of “rotating selection”; our 30-tap draft beer system rotates beer brands and styles constantly. We love to explore new brews! Being in the Craft Beer Capital of the world, we strive to keep the draft beer system clean by performing regular maintenance and cleaning in order to pour our customers a clean, crisp, and tasteful glass of beer. Just the way the brewers designed it!

(2) The goal for our food was to create an eclectic menu that complimented the varieties of beers on tap, and vise-versa. The food coming from our kitchen revolves around the theory of simplicity, offering American pub fare with an upscale twist. The chef and our kitchen staff take pride in cooking food that focuses on enhancing natural ingredients using contemporary cooking sensibilities while maintaining authenticity to each dish’s cultural background. In our menu you see hints of our cultural backgrounds; American, Chinese, Korean, and Mexican. This culture clash concept makes it perfect to call ourselves Californians!

(3) we wanted to create a space that felt homie and welcoming, a space that would appeal to the local neighborhood and the casual connoisseur from other parts of San Diego. Our goal is to provide customers with a relaxing and fun atmosphere to enjoy simple-straightforward food at reasonable pricing, paired with a variety of craft beers and cocktails to come.

We’ve been in business for 3 ½ years now, and there has certainly been some ups and downs and a huge learning curve. But day-after-day and month-after-month we continue to learn and improve as we keep focus on the three components that shaped Common Theory.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a first time business owner, I can’t say that the road has been smooth, which was expected. We have learned so many lessons and have grown so much as individuals. Personally, one of the most surprising struggles I have faced in running a restaurant has been the management of staff. Operating lunch and dinner service 7 days a week required about 30+ employees; being the active owners/managers that we are, we had to do all the service training, steps-of-service protocols, beer classes, scheduling, etc. Staff turnover rate in the restaurant industry is typically, and we’ve had our share of turnover; however, our retention rate is really good, and the tenure of our staff is typically 1-2 years.

We are certainly proud of the fact that we still have 3 bartenders and 2 cooks who have been with us since day 1.

Managing of personalities is one of the most important things when achieving a certain level of service, and to create a certain culture and vibe. At the end of the day, I believe that every staff here at CT is an extension of me and our brand. I tell the staff directly that they all represent CT and they are CT. We are in the hospitality business, and to us that means making sure that our guests feel welcomed and at home when they come in. That can only be achieved if the staff represents the CT culture and brand with a sense of ownership and pride.

Staff management is one of the struggles that most surprised me, but there are others like struggling to keep the food consistent every time, or managing the ticket times for food orders.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I believe that Common Theory Public House is unique because our passion for beer and food really shows. We care for both deeply and push ourselves to serve high quality beers and dishes, and we always try to find a way for the two to mix and complement each other. Believe it or not, but our food sales are always higher than alcohol sales, which shows that we put a lot of emphases on the quality of the food coming from the kitchen! The 3rd reason why we set ourselves apart is because of our culture and atmosphere. We designed the place ourselves to create a layout and ambiance that was open and comfortable. We wanted to create an environment that appeal to the masses, and people from all walks of life could enjoy our common interest in good beers, delicious food, and an overall great time.

Every day that I come to work I set out to do one thing, and that is to make sure that our patrons feel the genuine touch of hospitality. You can say that’s just my personality! I’ve met so many great people and have made so many friends here at Common Theory. I thank them every chance I get, it’s their support that keeps us going strong every day, keeps us wanting to improve the overall experience we’re trying to offer.

You can walk into Common Theory any day, and I promise you that for being a neighborhood bar/restaurant, you’ll be surprised of variety of folks that support our establishment. You’ll see anywhere from babies all the way up to retired, and all shapes and colors, it truly doesn’t matter. We have German beer hall-style benches or slightly more private booths for seating, but if you decide to pull-up at the bar you will witness that the friendliness of our staff will make it easy to sit next to any stranger at the bar. I’ve had 3 separate lady patrons, who are like friends to me now, thank me and tell me that they love Common Theory because they never ever felt unwelcomed or uncomfortable when they come in. Whether it was with some friends or by herself, they said that they feel relaxed and at home.

They said that it’s not just because of the friendliness of the staff, but the culture and vibe as a whole that translates out to the guests as well. So, I would say that the culture and vibe we have created is definitely the most important thing I am proud of here at Common Theory!!!

What were you like growing up?
If I may, I’ll start-up with a little more background. The late 70s and early 80s was very tough if you were in China, especially in the country side where my parents were from. They fled China in pursuit of a better life, a better future; they migrated from Guangzhou, China to Mexico back in 1981. And like many immigrant families, the hope was to ultimately make it to America. I was born in 1983, in Rosarito, and raised in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. With background in farming and cooking, my parents built and opened Restaurante Palacio Royal in a TJ neighborhood called La Libertad. I’m the second oldest out of 4 boys in the family, and we all grew up running around the restaurant. I was always helping around the restaurant, whether it’d be sweeping up the parking lot, or mopping the floors to open, to cashiering or cooking. I also remember doing the dishes a lot of times, and also breaking down chicken!

I was literally 1 out of the 5 Chinese kids out of the entire school, and 3 of those being my brothers. I recall experiencing the typical stigmatism that comes with “new kid in school”, or “different kid in school”, but it never felt racially based, it was just different. I only remember making friends quickly, and participating in school activities along with them. After 4th grade, my parents sent my brothers and I up to Los Angeles where I lived with some relatives and began attending middle school and the journey over here in the States. This whole time my parents continued working the restaurant in TJ, in fact built a second location. They finally saved enough money and bought a house in Chula Vista, and that’s when my brothers and I officially moved back south, where I began my high school adventure. After high school, I got into UCSD, and have been in San Diego ever since.

I believe that this amazing journey and exposure to different cultures has everything to do with my personality. I feel that I belong to everything that is Chinese, Mexican, and American, I take pride in every culture. So, I come across naturally Chinese, Mexican, or American, and the fact that I’m fluent in all three languages certainly helps! I thank my parents so much for exposing me and my brothers to such variety of cultures, it’s priceless! I’ve found my outgoing personality to be a definite plus while running Common Theory, I enjoy meeting and greeting our guests and catching up with them.

My personal hobby is basketball, and I love sports in general. And of course, I’ve always been a foodie at heart and have developed a great passion for craft beer! And I absolutely love my wife and two boys, they drive me crazy 90% of the time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Pricing:

  • Beers on draft range between $6.00 to $14/glass; styles and portions vary widely.
  • Lunch Menu items range between $10 to $16.
  • Dinner Menu items range between $8 to $24.
  • Kids Menu items range $6 to $8.

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Juan and James Tran

Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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