Fashion
Most restaurant owners work impossible hours, and Patrick Chu is no different. But after three decades of 100-hour weeks in his native Hong Kong, running his traditional Chinese food restaurant in Saskatoon feels like a vacation.
“I spent too much time on working. I was just very tired,” said Chu, who worked in supply management for a global construction company before emigrating to Canada last summer.
Chu said he brought his three children to Canada because he wanted them to have the best education possible. After arriving in July, he decided to change careers entirely and start his own business, a traditional Chinese food restaurant.
“For me, I just think opening a restaurant is a small business — it’s easier to manage. (And) I just want to bring some traditional Chinese flavour in here,” he said with a laugh, noting that while some of his family members ran restaurants in Hong Kong, he was “totally unfamiliar” with the industry.
A lack of experience didn’t deter him from working to get his restaurant up and running. He renovated the First Avenue North space himself, doing everything from painting to replacing and repairing kitchen equipment. Then he started developing a menu that combined familiar dishes with traditional flavours.
Taiji Eastern Cuisine, which opened its doors late last year, serves meals that will be familiar to most western customers. Ginger beef, sweet and sour pork and Singapore fried noodles are all staples. But according to Chu, Taiji’s are cooked differently, and are spicier and more flavourful than most western-style Chinese food.
Chu said that since he opened the restaurant, he has faced numerous difficulties, including those shared by many newcomers to Canada. While the first couple of months were “very frustrating,” he’s managed to iron out most of the problems, and today business is growing and he enjoys every minute of it, he said.
“Every time when the customer comes here they say the environment is very good, very clean, very bright and the food is very good — and they will come again,” he said. “I feel very happy, very happy.”
Ganyo and Grant didn’t choose an easy industry. The wedding business is extremely competitive and subject to changing tastes, but Ganyo believes the business she and her daughter built will continue to grow and succeed.
“I think with any business, you always have to be on top of these things and watch where it’s going,” she said. “But I still believe it’s going to be very hard to knock off that dream that little girls have. They dream of that day, and I just can’t see that all of a sudden diminishing.”
