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City People

Manager builds steak burgers, relationships

Part of the attraction at this Steak & Shake is the longtime manager, an expert on food and friendliness.

By JONNELLE MARTE
Published July 14, 2006

The Steak & Shake across from H.B. Plant High School has been rebuilt three times since it opened in 1965. For most of that time, one face has been a constant: general manager Sorasak "Pat" Daorai.

Daorai has been working at the restaurant since 1974.

"He's always walking around the restaurant being personable," said Warren Barone, a regular who works nearby.

When not behind the scenes making sure things are running smoothly, Daorai is out greeting and seating customers, many of whom have become his friends.

"When you're eating or when you come in, he says hello, and when things get backed up he acts just like any regular server," said Vernon Northam, a customer for 26 years.

Daorai has spent time managing other Steak & Shakes in the Tampa Bay area, but he said the one across from Plant High has been his home base.

It's a hangout for Plant High students. He sees generation after generation of them grow up.

He runs into them at the mall with his family, and even years later, they visit.

"Some of the kids that knew me, they come back and say, 'Remember me?' " he said.

They fill him in on what they've been doing, sometimes bringing their own children along. He hears all about their careers.

"You see them grow up under your eye and become somebody," he said.

Co-workers say they get close to him, too.

"He's willing to listen to me and talk to me. He's helped me out quite a bit," said Tim Fox, a manager at the restaurant. "Even though he's my boss, a lot of times I don't think of him as my boss."

Daorai was raised in Bangkok and came to the United States to study economics and business at Shepherd College in West Virginia.

He fell in love with Tampa after spending a spring break here.

"The weather is like home for me," he said.

He returned right after graduation with his wife and college sweetheart, Kathy.

He had plans to work for a bank but the job fell through and he applied instead to be manager for Steak * Shake. He doesn't regret a thing.

"I like what I'm doing," he said. "I like to work with the kids."

When not working, Daorai likes to spend his time with his three daughters.

"I'm a family guy," he said.

Daorai likes to cook. Not surprisingly, he has mastered the burger, but he also enjoys Asian food.

He figures he'll retire when his daughters start college. And then he'll do what he's been training for decades to do.

"I'll see my kids grow up," he said.

Jonnelle Marte can be reached at jmarte@sptimes.com or 813 310-1145.

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 12:19:53]