HATTIE: Hi, I'm Hattie Bryant and this is Small Business School. The USA is a beacon to creative people around the world. This country is a place to actualize dreams and this television show is about people who are doing it.

Today, you'll meet men who are building a chain of surfer food joints... Wahoo's Fish Taco.

They came to our attention because they have won lots of awards, their ROI per square foot is off the charts and they tirelessly give to their community. They are part of the boarding tribe and this story begins because in 1988, three brothers, new comers to the USA agreed. There was no place for surfers to meet and eat like the places they loved in Baja.

HATTIE (Voiceover): Wing Lam, Ed Lee and Mingo Lee may not look like entrepreneurs, but they are. Their operation, Wahoo's Fish Taco, has over 700 employees in 43 stores. You’ll find them in California, Colorado, Texas and Hawaii and some like this location in La Jolla are owned by franchisees.

EMPLOYEE: Be just a couple of minutes.

HATTIE: Their initial idea was to start a simple business that they could run and make a living while surfing between shifts. They targeted their own boarding tribe, surfers, snowboarders, skateboarders and have expanded to all extreme sports enthusiasts. It worked.