Categories: News

How restaurant placemats turned a California attorney into a local dining legend

Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley is famous for its dining scene, especially its bounty of Chinese restaurants, where you will more often than not spot local attorney James Wang at your table. In 2006, Wang ordered 30,000 paper placemats to advertise his legal practice, distributing them for free at some of the SGV’s most popular restaurants and diners, where they were readily adopted by restaurant owners. The oversized placemats, featuring Wang’s dimpled, ageless mug (the photo has not been updated in 15 years), have become a part of local dining lore and culture. In 2008, Wang began to sell advertising space on his placemats to other businesses, including local real estate agents, high-end jewelers, and even other attorneys—his current rates are $2,500 for 100,000 sheets. The old-school advertising model hasn’t just turned Wang into a local household name, but has proved to be highly profitable, too. Wang’s branded placemats generate about 100 calls from potential clients every month, reports Eater L.A.

Related Post
The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

2 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

2 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

2 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

2 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago