Armed with another investment, Asian Box expandsArmed with another investment, Asian Box expands

Sometimes it makes sense for a restaurant chain not to grow — such as when leases are too costly.

So the five-unit healthful Vietnamese street food chain Asian Box held off, and waited. When the real estate deals started improving, the chain signed up for new locations. And now Asian Box is armed with another investment round to fund those units.

“We have seven signed deals in northern and southern California,” chain cofounder Frank Klein said in an interview. “Our goal is what it always is, to prudently build out stores with fantastic real estate. But for a while we couldn’t find any.”

Klein and Grace Nguyen opened the first Asian Box in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2012. The concept offers healthful Vietnamese street food, including meat raised ...