Pattaraporn “Patta” Lorwatcharasophon, a Thai immigrant and founder of the SEA Crab House, is a living example of the American dream.

Instead of following her parents’ expectations in Thailand, Lorwatcharasophon left home to join her brother in Pennsylvania at 19. She immediately began work as a dishwasher, embarking on a mission to discover “the biggest thing” she could do with her life.

Today, she’s the owner of SEA Crab House with locations in Astoria, Bend, Seaside and Beaverton, and plans to open additional locations in Portland and Seattle over the next few months.

“I want to go big. We want 25 locations by 2024,” Lorwatcharasophon said.

On March 13, “Patta’s Empire: Have Faith in Me” will be available on Amazon, a book encapsulating the entrepreneur’s journey penned with the help of Lorwatcharasophon’s marketing director Christophe Adrien.

Knowing the complications of the restaurant industry, Lorwatcharasophon was not planning to become a restaurateur. Yet she found herself continuously drawn back to the industry by her love of food.

From Pennsylvania, Lorwatcharasophon’s ambition took her to New York, then Los Angeles, where she met her husband, Dacha “Kim” Pathumratanathan. At the time, Pathumratanathan’s family owned the oldest Thai dessert shop in Los Angeles.

Lorwatcharasophon discovered an opportunity through a friend who ran a food cart named Thai Me Up. Her friend was no longer interested in running the food cart, so Lorwatcharasophon took it over.

At the time, she didn’t have money to change the name. After Lorwatcharasophon’s first day running Thai Me Up, she took the cash from the day’s sales to the market to purchase ingredients for the following day. She did this until she saved enough funds to hire a few employees.

Eventually, a space opened up across the street from the food cart along the oceanfront in Seaside. The space would become the first SEA Crab House location — but not until Lorwatcharasophon had endured several more challenges.

A grand opening of the SEA Crab House was scheduled for Jan. 6, 2020. But on Dec. 31, 2019, a car hit the building. The damage that occurred, followed by the onset of COVID-19, delayed the opening of the first SEA Crab House restaurant until May 2020.

In the meantime, Lorwatcharasophon focused her efforts on serving Thai food. She printed a letter and taped it to the window of Thai Me Up with a phone number that read, “We are open.” Thai Me Up was one of just a few restaurants open as Seaside grappled with the beginning of the pandemic.

“People either went to McDonald’s or Thai Me Up,” she said.

After the initial restrictions of the pandemic lifted, the grand opening of the SEA Crab House drew a crowd, and as a result, brought in more revenue than the entrepreneur had ever seen. Not only was the Cajun-style seafood restaurant financially successful, but its owner realized it provided something the food cart could not: an experience.

A week after the grand opening, a woman walked into the restaurant and handed every server a $100 bill. When Lorwatcharasophon inquired about the reason for the woman’s surprising generosity, the woman answered that the SEA Crab House had brought her happiness since the moment she walked inside.

With a few locations to choose among — including Beaverton, which opened Feb. 3 — Lorwatcharasophon, a mother of four, decided to make the SEA Crab House in Bend the company’s headquarters because of the safe environment she feels the city provides her children.

“I’m all about my kids,” Lorwatcharasophon said, adding that they’ve provided her with the drive to push through the hard times.

With all Lorwatcharasophon has accomplished, it might be easier not to open additional locations of the SEA Crab House. But the entrepreneur continues to set her sights on growing her empire.

“If I could do it, I could inspire other people to do it,” she said.