KungFu BBQ, a family-owned and operated concept, takes influence from the Philippines, Japan, Mexico and Hawaii then applies the traditional techniques of American smoked BBQ. Customers can expect items like birria tacos with smoked brisket or Filipino pork belly adobo smoked and served with garlic rice.

In late 2020, Nate and his dad, Kristian, cooked and fixed 20 meals to serve to friends in the restaurant industry with the understanding that if they liked the food, they should post about it on social media.

They started small, only cooking on Sundays, but word spread quickly on social media. They ended up with a waitlist of more than 5,000 hungry fans.

KungFu BBQ currently operates at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and has a food truck that can be found throughout the Dayton region. The Silos will be their first physical location with consistent hours of operation open to the public.

“We are excited to provide a consistent location to do things the right way,” Marie said. “We believe the customers who’ve supported us for all these years at pop-ups and at the food truck will be very happy to see that we are following through on the promise of an accessible location.”

Shannon Thomas, who owns The Silos with Wes Hartshorn, is excited to see the Lansangan’s business grow exponentially with their food being more accessible.

“We love Nate and Marie’s energy,” Thomas said. “They are authentic and care a lot about people; both the people they serve and the people who work with them.”

“Nate and Maria are brilliant, and it comes through in how they run the business and in how the food tastes,” Hartshorn said. “It inspires me.”

KungFu BBQ’s slogan is “real food, real people, real memories.”

“We look forward to joining another community here at The Silos,” Nate said. “In helping others — we are able to help ourselves. The level of detail and effort we put into our food — is how much we care about our community. That’s what we are most excited about.”

KungFu BBQ will join Nood Bar, a concept by Chef Dane Shipp that will serve authentic Asian-inspired hot and cold noodle dishes with an assortment of bao buns and dumplings, at The Silos. There will be two other food vendors at The Silos that have yet to be announced.

MORE DETAILS

The Silos, located at 810 E. First St., will feature four food vendors and a bar housed inside shipping containers within a building that once was used as a rail spur to feed the B&O Railroad.

Hartshorn said he was inspired to create a food hall that’s built out of shipping containers after traveling throughout the U.S. with his wife, Kathleen. The shipping container idea has been done at places like Railgarten in Tennessee or Detroit Shipping Company in Michigan, but not here in Dayton.

Surrounding the food hall, the landscape will be broken up into four areas: The Front Yard, American Yard, Little India and European Alley. The main entrance through The Front Yard will feature shipping containers with seating within.

Other highlights of the property they hope to complete after the food hall, within the next five years, includes a building on the corner of East First and Meigs Streets that could be home to a coffee shop, a building near the silos that could be an event center or complimentary space to the food hall, four silos that will be Airbnbs and a wild flower garden with paths for people to walk through.

For more information and updates on The Silos, visit the food hall’s Facebook and Instagram pages (@silosdayton).