Chef Sokun and her husband, Guillaume Slama, own five successful restaurants in North Carolina. But their journey to this point is one that reaps of hardship, determination and what Guillaume calls “positive karma.”

Chef Sokun’s story starts in 1975 when her parents and three of their four children, including Sokun, were forced to flee to the jungle during the chaos as the Khmer Rouge went on a killing rampage.

But even the jungle could not provide enough camouflage and protection for the family. They were discovered, but because Sokun’s father hid the fact that he was a teacher by trade and told his captors that he could cook, the family was allowed to live.

Sokun speaks with deep sorrow. “The school where my dad taught before the war later became a prison where torture and awful things happened. The whole country became a grave.”

The family was made to travel with their captors. The family had been moved to near the Thailand border toward the end of the regime. They stealthily made it across the border into a refugee camp.

That camp became the bridge to Sokun’s new life in Europe. Cambodia was previously a French colony, and France accepted nearly 300,000 refugees. Sokun’s family was among them — they arrived in France in July 1979.

She was working as a cook when she married Guillaume, using the skills she learned from her father. Guillaume had attended college in Kentucky and planned to start his own business when he returned to France. But France was suffering economically, so he turned his sights back to the United States, believing it was the only way to build a life. On advice from a friend and using a $10,000 loan, the couple immigrated to Atlanta.

“We soon realized that amount of money would not even buy a piece of land, let alone start a business in Atlanta,” said Slama. “We both found jobs in the corporate world and worked for eight years, saving every possible penny to try to someday make our dream to own a restaurant a reality.

“When we saved enough money we moved to Athens [GA] and opened a restaurant,” he continued. “We were awarded Four Diamonds the first year we were in business, and we were doing very well.”

But more hardship was to follow. The recession hit the restaurant and everything the couple owned “went down the drain,” he said. “We were pretty much in the belly of the whale at that point.”

But there was yet another bit of that positive karma the couple so strongly believes in waiting around the corner. Just when they were at a point when they didn’t know where to turn, one of their customers offered them an opportunity in Whiteville, NC.

“We were scratching our heads and highly skeptical about this man’s offer that he wanted us to take over a restaurant in Whiteville and would support us financially,” said Slama. “But we went with him to take a look, and we realized it was actually pretty cool.”

That was five years ago. The only restriction the financial backer made was that they kept the original name of the restaurant, Southern Kitchen. The couple added “New” to the name, and it opened in September 2009 with a menu of French food with touches of Asian and Southern flair.

Slama said that although they were excited about the opportunity, they did not have a clue of what to expect. The couple planned a soft opening without promotions or marketing because they first wanted to work out the kinks.

Sokun’s cooking style is eclectic. She’s not afraid to experiment and she’s known for combining unexpected ingredients. She demands the highest quality, which translates into somewhat expensive dishes.

“The very first customer walked in and took a seat,” said Slama. “She looked at the menu and asked about the listed prices. When she realized that an iced tea was two dollars, she proceeded to tell me, ‘You need to fire that fancy cook and get you a Southern cook.’ “

But about a half hour later another customer walked in, and then another and another. Within an hour every table in the restaurant was full. And it’s been that way ever since.

The couple took the standing line to heart and decided they somehow needed to get people seated and comfortable. Three months after opening New Southern Kitchen they opened Madison Lounge, a tapas and cocktail bar attached to New Southern Kitchen.

Sophie’s opened on Aug. 1, 2010, three doors away from its mother restaurant. Slama describes it as “French bistro meets New York deli.”

“Our first two restaurants proved that people in the community wanted really great food,” he said. “And by this time we were turning people away from New Southern Kitchen and Madison Lounge. Sophie’s offers lighter fare, such as sandwiches, chicken and salads. Another restaurant in town was buying our chicken salad by the pound to resell at his restaurant. We also offer a wide selection of specialty coffees at Sophie’s — sort of like Starbucks meets Sokun.”

The couple’s fourth restaurant, Sophie’s Express, is located close to Columbus Regional Hospital, and so it has a strong medical clientele. It’s a more casual spinoff of Sophie’s. Because these professionals often have only a few minutes to eat, the menu is developed around foods that are quick and easy to make and serve.

The fifth (and final to date) restaurant the couple opened is in a gas station on the highway in Acme-Delco-Riegelwood, called The Grill in Delco.

“It’s sort of a truck-stop setting,” explained Slama. “The owner of the gas station wasn’t happy with the tenant in the restaurant and asked us to take it over. We took it apart and cleaned everything and virtually rebuilt the inside. It offers a predominantly Southern menu, and in the four or so months that we’ve been open, it’s been constantly packed.”

Sokun is also a wonderful pastry chef, keeping the pastry cases in the restaurants filled with mouthwatering deserts. And she is responsive to dietary restrictions such as gluten free.

“She also makes homemade ice cream with the most unusual ingredients,” said Slama. “Flavors like roasted cocoanut, honey lavender, goat cheese and blueberry and one of the favorites — jalapeno, bacon and maple syrup.”

She’s also evolved into quite the expert with North Carolina’s famous sweet potatoes — and in ways that are unique and special.

“Although we buy our sweet potatoes from a distributor, we know that they come from Wayne E. Bailey,” said Slama. “And we’re proud to say that the Wooten family members who own the company are regular guests at our restaurant.”

Sokun quickly learned how to make great sweet potato fries that customers love. She also makes sweet potato cheesecake, sweet potato bread and sweet potato gnocchi.

“Our fresh catch last Friday was sweet potato encrusted flounder on a bed of spinach topped with shrimp kebob lemon butter sauce and zucchini flan,” said Slama. “You never know what Sokun is going to turn out using sweet potatoes, and she loves serving them because she’s highly aware of the health benefits.”

Slama said that the couple believes that sending good karma out to people brings good karma back to you.

“We treat everyone fairly, and we are always reminded of how fortunate we are to have survived what Sokun and her family suffered through,” he said. “We feel that our good fortune today is that good karma coming back to us.”