TELUS Business presents Grit + Resilience,
a 3-part series on young Chinese Canadian entrepreneurs during COVID-19.

Interviewed and Edited by Jennifer Lau · Written by Colin Li
Photography by Josh Tenn Yuk

I grew up going to the restaurant every day after school. My parents worked around the clock – my mom took the day shift and my dad took the night shift. They learned how to run a restaurant in a foreign country where they don’t speak the language and I got to witness my parents’ struggles firsthand. Nonetheless, they built something that stood the test of time and a place that became an integral part of Toronto’s cultural fabric. It wasn’t easy for them, but they did everything they could to keep the train running and serve our customers. 

They love to entertain and they love Chinese food. We would always host gatherings at our house and I would see their eyes light up when they explained each dish they made and how they made it to our guests. They love what they do and they love to share their lessons and successes with anyone who would listen, especially the younger generation. My mom worked front of the house and would always remember the regulars and their orders. My dad, a trained chef from China, is constantly looking for ways to improve his dishes, even to this day. 

During university, everyone around me was pursuing corporate jobs and I didn’t feel like that was the right fit for me. I was always entrepreneurial, but the idea of taking over the family business grew on me. Chinese restaurants had a stigma attached to it – they’re dirty, cheap, low-class – not qualities someone would typically be proud of. But like my parents, I love Chinese food and felt like there was opportunity to change this perception and preserve Chinese culture through food for many more generations. So I traveled. I went to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and New York – some of the food capitals of the world – to see what others were doing to change the perception. The food scene in these cities blew my mind. They preserved the taste of traditional Chinese food, but repackaged the experience for the modern day consumer. After witnessing how Chinese food can be fused with other cultures, presented well, and be seen with higher regard, I wanted to take this inspiration back to my family business and elevate the perception of Chinese food. 

The rebranding process has been ongoing since the moment I started working at Hong Shing. I began with creating a social media presence as a way to connect with our customers and understand their needs. From there, we figured out how to improve their relationship with our brand. We had a couple of victories from branding to streamlining daily operations. The first victory was modernizing our signage and simplifying our logo. We also tailored our menu to our customer’s palate by reducing the number of items on our menu. This also relieved pressure on our chefs, so they could focus on preparing our most popular dishes. 

I realized that not only me but also my social media community have a passion for basketball. Since I took over the restaurant, I had to give up playing basketball but I still wanted to incorporate it into my life somehow so I decided to create a basketball team under the Hong Shing brand. We’ve won 4 championships in a local men’s league so far. These victories have shown my family and myself that we can grow this brand beyond Chinese food.

Once the pandemic landed in Toronto, I knew we had to adapt. 

We switched our focus to take-out and delivery because we knew customers’ dining habits were changing. We launched delivery pop-ups: we traveled to areas outside of our normal zones in order to reach the customers that would regularly commute to the city for us. We created an online ordering system on our website which helped me better understand our customers’ behaviours and target our marketing campaigns. We produced frozen dim sum packs where people can conveniently cook at home by reading the easy-to-follow instruction card provided. 

Lastly, I’m personally proud of launching our very own branded beer in partnership with Hometown Brew Co. to elevate our Chinese takeout experience.

We are always trying to adapt and stay resilient. We are searching for other ways to bring the Hong Shing brand to other areas of people’s lifestyle. One of the things our customers can look forward to is our bottled X.O. sauce and chili oil that we hope will be in everyone’s kitchen. And streamlining our processes internally will become increasingly important to make our operations smoother. We are always looking for talent wanting to grow with us and who also sees our vision of preserving Chinese culture and food for generations to come.

We look forward to seeing what else Hong Shing will accomplish in the decades to come as it seeks to reinvent and preserve Chinese culture through culinary experiences.