A friend told me his favorite Taiwanese restaurant is closing down. The owner couple are retiring, and there’s no one to continue on the legacy.
This is similar to the story of Sam Wo, the restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown operating for over a century. It is also closing down by the end of the year if no buyers can be found. The owner is retiring, and his children wants to so something other than working long days serving up food.
It makes sense, right? Parents start a humble restaurant to provide their children with a better life. Because their children got a better life (they are Asian, failure is not an option) as white-collar workers, there’s no one to take up the wok and spatula once the parents are of retirement age. Another friend of mine, his parents also closed down their long-running restaurant upon retirement. The friend and his siblings all have successful careers, far from the physical toil of the kitchen.
I think Chinatown is going to look very different in the coming years. Lots of restaurants there are run by the older generation. I suspect many will close down soon enough, because my generation are either unwilling or do not need to take up the proverbial mantle. The margins are too low, and the hours are too long.
I hope I am wrong about that projection, and there is an unknown cohort out there that’s going to step up and take over running these legacy Chinese restaurants. Because we cannot let Panda Express win the cheap Chinese food game!
Love birds.