Eric Lee, founder, SEOD
I have spent sixteen years running operations, restaurants, retail, distribution, nonprofits, multi-unit F&B. $54 million+ in annual P&L managed across BCD Tofu House, Gen Korean Barbecue, Sake2Me Sushi, and Obaba Fresh, plus engagements in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Los Angeles. I started SEOD because the agencies SMB owners hire do not understand the P&L.
Started washing dishes at sixteen. By twenty-five, multi-unit GM. By thirty-five, running ops for BCD Tofu House, Gen Korean Barbecue, Sake2Me Sushi, and Obaba Fresh while building distribution-side systems. Along the way: five-language kitchen teams, inventory systems for distributors still using fax machines, and more late-night payroll reconciliation than any human should endure.
Trilingual, English, Korean, Spanish, which has mattered in every kitchen, every vendor call, every BOH briefing. Believes marketing agencies fail small business because they sell campaigns to owners who need operations help. Built SEOD to close that gap.
Based in San Mateo. 24/7 reachable for the businesses SEOD serves, which are, almost without exception, the kind of places Eric would eat at, shop at, or donate to himself.
I started washing dishes at sixteen. By twenty-five I was running multi-unit F&B operations. By thirty-five I had BCD Tofu House, Gen Korean Barbecue, Sake2Me Sushi, and Obaba Fresh on my resume and more than $54 million in annual P&L under my signature. I've managed teams that spoke five languages on one shift and sold inventory systems to distributors that were still using fax machines.
Every year, I watched owners get sold the same lie: "hire an agency and growth will come." Then I watched those same agencies send reports full of impressions and "brand lift" while rent came due and payroll taxes stacked up.
The problem wasn't that marketing agencies were bad at marketing. The problem was they didn't understand the business behind the marketing. They couldn't tell you your labor cost was six points too high. They couldn't see the walk-outs happening at the hostess station. They'd run a Facebook ad for a restaurant whose ticket average was $8 lower than it should be, and they'd celebrate the increase in orders while the owner lost money on every one.
Marketing without operations is filling a leaky bucket. I got tired of watching owners pay to do it.
So I built SEOD. The agency I wished I could hire when I was in the chair: one operator who can run your Google Ads and audit your COGS. Who can write the SEO content and walk your floor during Saturday dinner. Who speaks your BOH's language, who knows what a 6% variance on food cost means to your month, who picks up the phone when the POS crashes on a Friday night.
The founder has a face. The work has a bench. Here's who actually touches your account.
Our stateside core: SEO leads, paid-media operators, content strategists, web developers, and ops consultants, each with 5 to 15 years in their craft. They've worked with brands you've heard of, and now they work with you.
No offshore handoffs. No junior-drop. The person you meet on the intro call is the person doing the work.
A vetted roster of photographers, videographers, designers, animators, and multilingual writers (EN · KO · ES). When your project needs a specific craft, like a photoshoot or a motion piece, we bring in the right specialist instead of faking it.
We vet them before they touch your project. We pay them well, so they bring their best work, not their cheapest.
Each semester, standouts from Stanford, UC Berkeley, Cal Poly, SJSU, USC and SF State rotate through SEOD.
They handle research, monitoring, and first drafts under direct supervision from a core team lead. Never solo on your account.
Ours and our clients'. Every data point is documented, ask on the call and we'll show you.
Ten minutes. Free. You tell me what's broken; I tell you whether I can fix it and what it'll cost. No pitch deck, no "discovery workshop."
I come to your business. I observe a shift, review your P&L, look at your current marketing, meet your team. Every leak is documented.
Website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts, SOPs, whatever your package covers gets built, launched and tested live.
Monthly reports in plain English. Ad spend gets optimized weekly. Onsite visits as needed. Your calendar starts filling up.
Sixteen years. Every number below is documented. Ask me for specifics, I'll show you.
"We went from 2 to 3 calls a week to 25 potentials a week in just a year. We started seeing results in 3 months of SEO."
Ten minutes. You tell me what's broken. I tell you whether SEOD is right for you. If we're not, I'll point you to someone who is.
SEOD's commercial pillars live on their own service pages: SEO / AEO / GEO, Web Development, Operations, and AI Technology. Industry-specific Sprints for 17 Bay Area verticals live on the Industries hub. Published pricing for every tier lives on the Pricing page.
SEOD's transparency model is grounded in published guidance from the Better Business Bureau on small business marketing trust signals and the FTC's small business advertising and marketing guidance.
SEOD ships SEO / AEO / GEO (local SEO, GBP, paid ads, content), web development (flat-fee builds), operations consulting, and AI Technology for Bay Area small and mid-size businesses. Three commercial pillars priced from $297 to $1,997 a month. AI Technology is a separate service gated by a paid audit.
Eric Lee is the founder of SEOD. Sixteen years running restaurant, retail, and nonprofit operations. $54M+ in annual P&L managed across BCD Tofu House, Gen Korean Barbecue, Sake2Me Sushi, and Obaba Fresh. Bay Area based. He took every client call personally for the first three years; he still takes most of them.
Hidden pricing usually means the price is the result of a sales conversation, not a deliverable. SEOD prices are anchored to the work, not the prospect's perceived budget. We publish them because we want the right-fit clients calling and the wrong-fit clients self-selecting out before anyone wastes a call.
SEOD ships work for any business that wants it, but the onsite component is Bay Area only. Restaurants, dental practices, med spas, contractors, and other local-search dependent businesses get the most value because the local SEO + GBP + onsite Sprint pattern is built for that profile.
SEOD launched in 2016 and has served 100+ Bay Area clients across restaurants, nonprofits, and small to mid-size businesses since then. 128 verified 5-star reviews. $5.8M+ documented client impact.
Yes. First call, Sprint kickoff, quarterly review, every escalation. Stateside team, no offshore handoffs. The team around Eric runs the day-to-day execution; Eric runs the relationship.
Yes. English, Korean, Spanish. Native, not translated. Useful for Bay Area kitchen teams, family-owned restaurants, and immigrant-founded businesses where the front-of-house language and the back-of-house language are not the same.
17 productized Bay Area industry verticals: restaurant, dental, med spa, remodeling/ADU, home care, auto repair, HVAC/plumbing/electrical, veterinary, real estate, fitness studio, salon, CPA, optometry, tutoring, dog care, movers, and wedding photography. Each has its own $3,000 Sprint and matched maintenance.
Published prices. Month-to-month on retainers. Flat-fee on projects. No annual contracts. No setup fee on the lowest maintenance tier. The price the website shows is the price on the invoice.
