First, Gemma Lee and Luis Kim fell in love. Then, they fell in love with salt bread. Now, they’re hoping Angelenos will also fall in love with salt bread in their soon-to-open bakery in Koreatown, Out of Ordi.
The experience goes like this: upon opening a box of salt bread from Out of Ordi, the aroma of freshly baked, buttery bread immediately strikes at your olfactory senses. The bread is a perfectly toasted color — the one where it’s a deep hazelnut brown that lightens to a beige — which entangles itself with the cream’s soft hues of matcha green and the specks of powdered sugar to create a feast for the eyes.
Then, the first bite of the soft, airy bread creates a whirlwind warmth in your soul. The saltiness of the dough intertwines with the sweetness of the cream creating a perfect balance on your tongue. Flavors like black sesame and 볶은 콩가루 (bokkeun konggaru), roasted soybean powder found on 인절미 (injeolmi), evoke memories of childhood snacks from the local Asian supermarket.
“We wanted to do something classic, like a croissant, but in a Korean way, and I thought salt bread was a good choice,” Lee said.
Beyond the bread, Kim and Lee also focus on the details including a beautifully presented bread box. Everything is neatly packed into an eye-catching box decorated with bold typography and their mascot, a bear with silver accents.
“We’ve been trying to apply these [unique] flavors and come up with ideas to make the box creative,” Lee said. “When you open it, let’s do something in there so that it doesn’t just look pretty outside, but it looks pretty inside [as well].”
Lee and Kim started Out of Ordi — meaning “Out of the Ordinary” — just under a year ago in the comfort of their home. The couple originally met in Tennessee before getting married and coming back to L.A.
“We just wanted to try something new while we’re so young. So we were like, let’s start a business,” Lee said.
Before Out of Ordi, Kim worked as a cook while Lee had experience in the fashion and design industry.
“Why don’t we combine those two together and try to find something that we could both do well on? And I thought dessert would be something fun to do,” Lee said.
They tested out many desserts from donuts to cookies. However, during a trip in Korea, they landed on their piece de resistance: the salt bread or 소금빵 (sogeumppang).
“We went to Korea together to prepare for our wedding,” Lee said. “So we walked around every cafe that we saw, took pictures and tried to get inspiration.”
The bread originates from Japanese 塩パン (shio-pan) but recently became popular in South Korea and Korean American spaces. Paris Baguette, a chain Korean American bakery with five locations in Koreatown, sells their own version of salt bread.
“I feel like there’s a lot of potential [with salt bread]. You could do a lot of different things,” Lee said.
Kim handles all of the baking while Lee is the mastermind behind the marketing. The two work together to ideate flavors.
“Recently, I threw out [the idea of] 약과 (yakgwa),” Lee said. “So I threw [Kim] that, and then he’s the one who actually bakes and makes it.”
Kim made the salt bread in their apartment’s kitchen and handled pick-ups done in their parking lot and at various pop-ups around Los Angeles and Orange County.
Meanwhile, Lee was constantly pushing out content on Instagram and TikTok.
“This is my second job. After work, I try to post something … I told him to prepare the bread for me so I could take pictures,” Lee said. “I try really hard [to] make [Instagram] reels or stories try to connect with people. That was the only way that we could connect with our customers, so it was challenging.”
Their home bakery slowly gained popularity through social platforms and soon enough, they were selling out every time they opened order forms.
Part of their rise on social media can be attributed to Out of Ordi’s unique flavors. The bread flavors hit close to home for UCLA student and food content creator, Emma Wu (@eatingwuu).
“Growing up, I really loved [flavors] like, black sesame and matcha … I think it was really cool to have a mix of all the nostalgic Asian flavors that I’m used to,” Wu said.
Food content creator K. Dang (@feedmedangit) found that the fun flavors could be captured amazingly on camera.
“It was … so picture perfect. Every flavor was good. I felt like I needed to take a picture of each flavor and say which ones I like, then describe each one so that people can pick [accordingly],” Dang said.
Following a year of bread-making, their pop-up business has grown beyond the space available in their home. Their brick-and-mortar will officially open in April at Koreatown’s Oxford Plaza on 8th and Oxford St. The storefront is located in the same plaza as DAMO Tea House which has also boomed in popularity with the help of social media.
Out of Ordi joins the growing list of 1.3 million small businesses in L.A. County. Just like other small businesses, it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for the duo.
“It was more than what we thought. It’s not just signing a contract. There’s so many things to go through — legally or like, all these paperworks and knowing all these regulations in the city or the state,” Lee said. “We struggled a lot. Doing a business with someone really close, I realized it’s not easy. We fought a lot. Honestly, we fought every single day.”
Increasing rent prices across the U.S. has made it difficult for many small businesses to stay afloat. The U.S. Bureau of Statistics reported only 77.1% of new businesses opened in 2022 in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington stayed open after their first year.
In January, restaurants across Los Angeles also reported struggles to bring in customers due to the 2025 L.A. wildfires.
L.A. has attempted to combat certain issues surrounding commercial leases by enacting Senate Bill 1103 (Commercial Tenant Protection Act) which aims to protect non-English speaking business owners and microentrepreneurs from sudden rent increases and terminations.
Although the state of small businesses in L.A. are constantly in flux, Lee and Kim are hopeful and excited for the future of Out of Ordi.
“We weren’t sure at first, and it was a hard time, but I couldn’t believe it, people making orders … Now, we’re about to open a brick-and-mortar. I think this is just hard to believe. A dream come true moment,” Lee said. “If it wasn’t our customers, we wouldn’t be here.”
Out of Ordi has yet to share an official opening date. They aim to open in May. Out of Ordi will be located at 3524 W 8th St.
A previous version of this article listed the anticipated opening date to be in April. This has been updated to reflect the new projected opening date.