Behind a dimly lit bar, Enrique Palacios meticulously slices ripe watermelon and honeydew into bite-sized cubes, angling his knife against the rinds to gather every last piece of fruit. As he neatly stacks the melons into plastic containers, his business partner Mingjian Dan navigates swiftly around him, wiping down counters and flicking on neon signs to further prep for the bar’s opening.

This bar is one of many renovations Dan and Palacios implemented when they took over and rebranded Look Noodles, an Asian fusion restaurant on Guadalupe Street, into SouthCloud Ramen.

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After graduating from UT in 2021, the two roommates said they shared a lot of uncertainty about their career paths and wanted to embark on a new project together. Dan, whose prospects of moving back home to China and pursuing film were derailed by COVID-19, worked as a Look Noodles server post-graduation and pitched that he and Palacios take over the food truck in the restaurant’s parking lot. However, his boss countered with a more daunting proposal: that the pair take over the entire restaurant.

“We were so overwhelmed — we imagined something very small,” said Dan, a  radio-television-film alumnus. “But we took it immediately, obviously — it was too good of a deal to pass on.”

Palacios said after feeling unfulfilled by his job after graduating, the offer to take over the restaurant came at a good time.

“We wanted something more out of life,” advertising alumnus Palacios said. “Starting this opportunity was what we both needed. … It was something that we could take control of.”

Dan and Palacios took ownership in March of 2022 and began a six-month journey of rebranding the restaurant into SouthCloud, a rough translation of Dan’s hometown province. With the help of close friends from UT, they worked to renovate the interior and exterior of the building, build a website, design new menus and repurpose the restaurant’s unused poke bar into a functional area. 

Close friend and SouthCloud worker Sony Nguyen said helping to lay the foundation of the shop was a vast change of pace for him, and he still finds himself adjusting to the requirements that come with helping run a business. However, he said he sees this project as a challenge to continue growing alongside his friends.

“This is just the first of many things, so I see it as an investment in figuring out how I work in the team,” sociology fifth-year Nguyen said. “I’m just grateful to have (Dan and Palacios), and the way we happen to work so well together.”

After months of renovations and rebranding, SouthCloud celebrated its official opening Aug. 28. Palacios said he’s excited for their business to continue gaining traction, and he especially looks forward to hosting events in their new patio and stage area.  

“Now we’re getting to set our foot down on the cultural aspect (of SouthCloud),” Palacios said. “We’re open to any event, we just want to see what ideas will come through here. … That’s where we can really make an impact.”

As one of the few local businesses remaining on Guadalupe Street, Dan said many of their rebranding decisions were based on centering their business around people and culture.

“That community building is really what we’re looking for,” Dan said. “Food and drinks are all just a medium for people to get closer to each other. That’s really the idea behind it all — to bring people together.”