The Little One — A Labor of Love
Eddie Zheng (left) and his wife, Olivia Leung (right)
As someone who has a huge sweet tooth, I love pretty much any kind of dessert. However, if I had to narrow it down, my two favorite types of desserts in the world would have to be frozen desserts and lava cakes (prove me wrong, but Carnival Cruise Line has one of the best chocolate lava cakes ever — I ate one every day on my spring break cruise to Mexico during my junior year of college). One of my absolute favorite frozen desserts is Asian shaved ice (yes — this is different from American shaved ice). So when Welcome to Chinatown asked me to interview the owners of The Little One, a cute little Japanese-style dessert shop that specializes in Japanese shaved ice, I was super excited.
I first heard about The Little One on an episode of BuzzFeed’s Worth It series on YouTube. The minimalistic interior and the simple-yet-unique desserts immediately caught my attention, and I totally understand why it’s one of Worth It creator Steven Lim’s favorite dessert places. From the cute branded spoons to the picture-perfect ice cream sandwiches to the heaps of fluffy shaved ice, The Little One is a place that will please any dessert lover. Plus, they have a few dairy-free options on their menu, which is perfect for someone like me who is trying to avoid dairy. If this post isn’t enough to convince you to give them a try, then head over to their ~ a e s t h e t i c ~ Instagram page and scroll through an endless wonderland of too-cute-to-eat creations.
During this time of uncertainty and elevated violence against Asians in America, it’s more important than ever to give Asian communities a voice and tell their stories. I hope that Eddie and Olivia’s story can provide an additional perspective and help build the bridge of understanding and acceptance that we so desperately need.
*****
The Little One is a Japanese-style dessert shop that makes high quality, Japanese-inspired shaved ice and desserts. After leaving their day jobs to attend the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) and completing stints at top NYC restaurants and bakeries, Eddie Zheng and his wife, Olivia Leung, opened the shop in 2017 on the street they both grew up on. Their store is a labor of love — their “little one,” as they like to call it. Each dessert is handcrafted with the utmost care, and the unique flavor combinations are influenced by Eddie and Olivia’s travels in Japan as well as their daily lives in the States.
Hōjicha kakigōri
Tell us about your business and who you are!
Hi! We’re Eddie and Olivia, the husband and wife team behind The Little One — a Japanese-style dessert shop located at 150 East Broadway. We opened our store in 2017 and make high quality, Japanese-inspired desserts. We fell in love with Japanese desserts and culture during our trips to Japan and were inspired to bring high quality, Japanese-style desserts to NYC.
We are popular for unique desserts such as kakigōri (Japanese shaved ice) and monaka ice cream sandwiches (a Japanese ice cream sandwich that uses thin, crispy wafers typically made from mochi flour).
Chrysanthemum monaka ice cream sandwich with Andrew’s local honey
Could you please provide us with some background on yourself?
Olivia and I both grew up in Chinatown, and both our parents had shops on East Broadway. We first met at Columbus Park while playing basketball together as kids. Before starting The Little One, Olivia worked at the Chinatown YMCA, and I worked in marketing. We are both big foodies, but we never thought of making a career of it until Olivia started to take an interest in baking. I encouraged her to chase her dreams, and we enrolled together at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE). Olivia went on to work at bakeries such as Dominique Ansel Bakery and Tous Les Jours, and I worked at restaurants such as wd~50, The Elm, and La Sirena. After honing our skills, we opened our own dessert shop on the street we grew up on.
How did you come up with the name “The Little One”?
The “One” in The Little One stands for “Olivia ‘n Eddie.” Our little store is our “little one.”
The minimalistic storefront
What is your favorite dessert on your menu?
One of our favorites is our best seller: the hōjicha kakigōri. We love hōjicha (roasted green tea) because we would always have it when visiting Japan. This kakigōri has the perfect balance of bitterness from the tea, sweetness from the syrup, creaminess from the whipped cream, and tartness from the lime zest. We were inspired by the Arnold Palmer — a classic American drink that combines iced tea and lemonade — and wanted to create something that would be refreshing on a hot summer day. It was fun developing this dessert because hōjicha has such a complex flavor profile — it’s toasty, nutty, sweet, and caramelly all at once.
Strawberry kakigōri
Yogurt and strawberry homemade Calpico sodas
Malted hot chocolate
White peach kakigōri
How did the COVID shutdowns in 2020 impact your business?
We had a baby a week before the city shut down. At the time, we didn’t think much of it because we assumed COVID was going to go away in a few months. Plus, we got to spend more time with our newborn and basically take our maternity and paternity leave at the same time. But as COVID continued to get worse, we decided to shut down for four months. We eventually began questioning whether we could keep our shop alive at all.
Ultimately, we decided to keep pushing and negotiated an agreement with our landlord that allowed us to keep doing what we love. We opened back up in July 2020. Even though we reopened during the summer busy season, when sales typically peak, our revenues were still down 60%. Since there was initially no indoor dining, we had to adapt our menu — which was based on a dine-in concept — to be delivery / takeout friendly. We joined third party delivery apps to reach more customers and created cookie tins for the holiday season to help us get through the winter months. We also added some new menu items such as specialty cakes for celebratory occasions, and we have received great feedback on the cakes so far.
The thing that got us through the hardest days was the overwhelming amount of love and support from our regulars and new customers. We witnessed the true power of the Chinatown community, and we really appreciate everyone that came to our shop during the pandemic to support us or even just to check up on how we were doing.
Co-founder Eddie Zheng
How has Welcome to Chinatown (WTC) and the Longevity Fund grant helped your business?
WTC has helped us in more ways than we thought were possible. WTC graciously created a T-shirt, mug, and tote bag for us with 100% of the proceeds going to our store. WTC also provided us with multiple opportunities to participate in community events, such as the Chinatown Food Crawl and programs for giving back to nurses and volunteers.
We are going to use the grant proceeds to help pay rent and operating costs. The grant has helped us push forward during this difficult time. We are very grateful for what WTC has done for small businesses and the Chinatown community.
Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?
Take it one day at a time, make smart decisions, and stick to your plan. Honestly, we are still making changes every day and are still just trying to survive. Everyone’s situation is different, and we are grateful that we’ve been lucky enough to stay open.
Assortment of monaka ice cream sandwiches
What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a business owner?
Our proudest moment is the opening of The Little One. We didn’t have much capital to start with, and we made do with what we had. We’ve hit many milestones over the years, and having the store come as far as it has is something we are very proud of.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge was when we had to sit down and think about how to keep our doors open. Mentally, we were both prepared to close our doors permanently if our talks with our landlord didn’t go well. We had to make many sacrifices to stay open, and we are still making sacrifices to this day. Every day, we wonder how well we could have done without the COVID setback.
Any plans for the future?
We hope to continue doing what we both love to do at The Little One and introduce more new desserts.
What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now when people think back and remember The Little One, what do you want them to remember?
We would like people to remember that we were not just a social media dessert trend and that Olivia and I put a lot of care and time into every one of our desserts. We believe that people shouldn’t have to spend a fortune for quality dessert, and we hope that people will remember us for bringing affordable, delicious, and unique desserts to NYC.
How can people support your business?
Come for dessert! Give us a shout out and spread the word.
Anything else you would like people to know or talk about?
Chinatown businesses need more support than ever. Try to call in and order from restaurants directly rather than use third party delivery apps because those apps charge insanely high fees. Also, tip the staff even if there is no dine-in option. Many people believe that it’s unnecessary to tip when they are getting takeout, but tipping goes a long way for foodservice workers.
*****
Support The Little One by buying some cute merch here!
Chinatown establishments like The Little One are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support — now more than ever before — to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say Chinatown will always be open for business.
Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin, The Little One
Public Village — A Home Away from Home
Kiyomi Wang (right), chef and co-owner of Public Village, and her wife, Kyo Pang (left)
If you’ve known me for long enough, the you’ll know that I have a soft spot for Sichuan restaurants. My hometown of Chongqing was part of the Sichuan province from 1954 to 1997 (after which it split off into its own provincial-level municipality), so I grew up eating all of the traditional Sichuan dishes. When I got the opportunity to interview Kiyomi — one of the owners of Public Village — for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, I was ecstatic. The items on her menu — wǎn zá noodles (a noodle dish with yellow peas similar to chickpeas), stinky tofu, bīng fěn (ice jelly), tomato egg noodles, etc. — are all items I grew up eating. Similar to how Kiyomi used food as a way to cure her homesickness, food was a way for my parents and I to connect to our culture after emigrating to the US. As I scrolled through the mouthwatering pictures of noodles and Sichuanese snacks on Public Village’s Yelp page, a wave of nostalgia washed over me.
As English is not Kiyomi’s first language, her wife, Kyo, acted as the translator for our interview. Kyo is actually the executive chef and owner of Kopitiam, a super delicious Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown. I went there last weekend with Patrick and our friend Stu, and we were all blown away by the flavors. Public Village is right around the corner from Kopitiam, and I am planning on paying them a visit very soon (super excited — will update this post once I’ve had a chance to visit the restaurant).
During this time of uncertainty and elevated violence against Asians in America, it’s more important than ever to give Asian communities a voice and tell their stories. I hope that Kiyomi’s story can provide an additional perspective and help build the bridge of understanding and acceptance that we so desperately need.
*****
Public Village is a Sichuanese restaurant that specializes in homemade noodles and Chengdu-style street food. Chef and co-owner Kiyomi Wang opened Public Village with her business partner, Karen Song, on March 15, 2020 — two days before the stay-at-home orders went into effect in NYC. Through her cooking, Kiyomi has been able to pay homage to her hometown of Chengdu by putting her whole heart into everything that she makes. Read on to learn about how Kiyomi went from being a model in China to a chef in NYC and why she decided to name her restaurant Public Village.
Spinach Noodle Soup with Scrambled Egg and Tomato
Tell us about your business and who you are!
My name is Kiyomi Wang, and I am the chef and co-owner of Public Village. Public Village is a Sichuanese restaurant that specializes in homemade noodle dishes and street food from Chengdu (where I am from) and Northern China (where my co-founder, Karen Song, is from). Karen and I opened the restaurant on March 15, 2020, which was two days before the stay-at-home mandate went into effect in New York.
Most of our food is vegetarian friendly, and we are also sensitive to people who are gluten free or vegan. We pair different types of homemade noodles with different soup and sauce bases so that we can accommodate all kinds of dietary restrictions. For example, our tomato egg noodle dish is made with spinach noodles, and our beef noodle soup is made with squid ink noodles. Our mung bean noodles are great for people who can’t have gluten.
Why did you name your restaurant Public Village?
We named the restaurant Public Village after the xiǎo qū – or “little districts” – that are common in China. The xiǎo qū is a specific type of residential development that consists of many multi-story buildings with their own facilities such as gyms, daycare centers, parks, etc. Most of the people who live in the same xiǎo qū will know each other, and there are typically courtyards where residents can gather and bǎi long mén zhèn, which is colloquial for “gossip” or “chit-chat” in the Sichuan dialect. In that sense, the xiǎo qū are like “public villages” where people can congregate and exchange stories. We wanted to create a space for people to eat, drink, and chat like in the public villages of Sichuan.
Drunken Braised Beef Noodle Soup
What are your favorite dishes from your menu?
Everything on the menu is my favorite! Karen and I both love noodles, since noodles are a staple breakfast food in Northern China. If I had to pick one dish, it would be the Drunken Braised Beef Noodle Soup. It’s a super unique dish: we need to cook the broth with the bone in for sixteen hours to get the flavor without using any preservatives — it’s very addictive because we add Sichuan peppercorn to it. It comes with homemade squid ink noodles topped with beef that has been braised for six hours in order to achieve optimal tenderness. I also make my own chili oil, and I put in at least twelve different spices. The oil needs to cook for over an hour so that it absorbs all of the flavor from the spices.
Could you please tell us a little about yourself?
My mother is part of the Yi ethnic minority group in Sichuan, China, and she always cooked a lot of traditional Sichuan dishes for me and my brother when we were growing up. My father is from Northern China, where Karen is also from.
I used to work as a model and news anchor in Chengdu, China, before emigrating to New York. I met my wife, Kyo Pang – the founder and executive chef of Kopitiam, a popular Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown – during an interview that I was conducting for the news station. I moved to the US about four years ago in order to be with Kyo, and we got married last year.
Street Style Chilled Spicy Noodle
Kiyomi Wang
What inspired you to start your own restaurant?
When I first moved here, I had some trouble adjusting because I wasn’t familiar with the food in the US. I was really homesick and missed Sichuanese food a lot. To help cure my homesickness, Kyo would take me to all of the Sichuan restaurants in NYC. Eventually, I started making some dishes myself. Even though I had no formal culinary training, I sort of knew how to make most of my favorite foods because I had watched my mom and brother cook while I was growing up. Also, everyone in Chengdu knows how to cook a little bit, since it’s part of the culture, so I knew some of the basic skills.
When I first started out, it was a lot of trial and error. I would invite friends over for dinner all the time and have them try out my dishes. To my surprise, people really enjoyed my food! Over the years, I met many people through these dinners, including my business partner, Karen. Karen had been friends with Kyo for many years, and we hit it off right away. We realized that we had so many things in common. For example, we are both Capricorns, and we both love noodles. Karen is from Northern China, and my father is also from Northern China. That’s why you’ll sometimes see dishes on our menu that are common in that region, such as the Grilled Chilled Noodle Wrap and the Chicken Skeleton.
Grilled Chilled Noodle Wrap
Chicken Skeleton
One day, one of my friends, the owner of Coffee Project New York, asked me if I would do the catering for an event that she was hosting. I agreed, and the event ended up being very successful. Soon after, when Karen, Kyo, and I were having dinner, Karen asked, “Why don’t we just open our own restaurant?” Maybe it was the red wine that we were drinking that night, but I immediately said yes, and everything after that happened so quickly. Karen was working as an assistant manager at another restaurant at the time, so I thought her managerial experience would make her a great business partner.
At the restaurant, I do all of the cooking, and Karen does all of the business stuff. Together, we make a great team. Kyo has also helped us a lot and gave us some good business advice from her experience running Kopitiam. She introduced us to the contractors that we used to renovate the space and she also introduced us to a lot of our suppliers.
What was it like opening a restaurant during a pandemic?
It was scary. Everything happened so quickly, and we pretty much didn’t have a choice except to open when we did. We had walked by the space so many times, but it was always occupied by another tenant. Then, one day, we passed by and saw a “for rent” sign in the window. Right then and there, we decided to bite the bullet. We toured the space at the end of November 2019 and signed the contract in December 2019. Right after we signed, the pandemic hit. The moment I received the keys to the space, I was so excited, but my excitement was soon shattered when COVID tore through NYC.
The renovation for our space was completed in February 2020, and we officially opened on March 15 that same year. Two days after we opened, on March 17, New York went into lockdown, and we had to rely solely on delivery and to-go orders. After fourteen days of being open, we shut down because it became unprofitable to keep operating. Also, Karen found out that she was pregnant around that time, so we decided that it would be best to put the restaurant on pause for a bit until we got more information from the CDC. We re-opened on May 5, 2020.
Bīng fěn (ice jelly)
When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?
It was complicated. I had been really excited about the restaurant opening. For many nights, we stayed up to paint the walls ourselves and painstakingly went over so many details.
Then, one night at midnight, I read some news about COVID spreading in Asia, and I became so scared. I called home right away to make sure that my family was doing ok. People in China were having issues getting masks, so we bought a lot of masks and shipped them to China. My mom and brother started to distribute them to people in their xiǎo qū who were also having trouble getting masks. We also shipped a bunch of masks to Kyo’s family in Malaysia and made sure that they had enough supplies. But shortly after, COVID hit the US, and the tables turned. Suddenly, Asia had more masks, so our families began sending masks back to us. Looking back, even though it was a tough time for everyone, it was great that we were able to help each other out.
How has Welcome to Chinatown (WtC) helped your business?
WtC has helped us immensely. We opened our restaurant during the worst possible time, and we didn’t qualify for most SBA loans, such as the PPP loan. There wasn’t much traffic in the neighborhood because of the pandemic and also because we were so new. Our landlord was still charging us rent, so we had to pay fixed costs without generating much revenue. The Longevity Fund grant and the WtC Block Walk event helped us to pay off many utility bills and took some of the burden off our shoulders.
How did you use the Longevity Fund grant?
We primarily used the grant to pay utilities, rent, staff, and outdoor dining buildout. Additional funding can help improve our outside seating, because our existing one has been quite damaged by graffiti and late-night crowds.
Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?
Try your best to stay healthy and try to help others through this difficult time. While trying to survive ourselves, we’ve also tried to help the community in any way that we can. For example, Kyo’s restaurant, Kopitiam, has partnered with Rethink Food, which is a non-profit organization that utilizes donated food from restaurants to create meals for those in need. Public Village has also partnered with some smaller private organizations who have helped us deliver free meals to people — there is one guy that works as a nurse who sometimes comes in and tells us how many meals he needs, and then we just give him the amount he asks for and he drops it off to people in need.
Thousand Layered Bing
What are you the most proud of as a business owner?
It feels great to start something and then get good at it – especially when it’s something I never knew I could be good at. The people in the neighborhood always call me the “model in the kitchen” because I had no restaurant experience prior to starting Public Village, and I’m proud that I’ve been able to prove myself through my cooking. I have grown and changed so much throughout this journey, and I am proud of who I have become.
What is something interesting that most people don’t know about Public Village?
A lot of people come to Public Village to play Mahjong and chit chat. We’ve become friends with a lot of our neighbors this way! You probably won’t find another restaurant in Chinatown where people come to play Mahjong.
Any plans for the future?
I want to try doing fresh, packaged food that people can cook easily at home (similar to meal kits). I would package things like the chili oils and sauces that I make. Currently, I’m trying to package the Drunken Braised Beef Noodles so that people can eat it fresh in their homes.
What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now, what do you want people to remember about Public Village?
I want people to remember the Yi minority group and appreciate the uniqueness of Sichuanese food. I started this restaurant to share the taste of my hometown with people in the US. There is a saying in China that Sichuanese food “là kǒu bù là xīn,” which means that it burns your mouth but does not burn your heart. I make every single dish with love, and I hope that people can feel that and remember Public Village as a place that is filled with “heart.”
How can people support your business?
Call us and come pick up our food rather than use third party delivery apps! Third party delivery and pickup apps charge a lot – up to 30%! Since everything we serve is handmade and very time consuming to create, we’re not making very high margins on the food to begin with.
Tofu Skin Salad
Sichuan Pepper Beef
Anything else you would like people to know?
I want people to know that you can do anything if you set your heart to it. I had the guts to open a restaurant without a cooking background – if I could do this, you can achieve your dreams too.
*****
Chinatown establishments like Public Village are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support — now more than ever before — to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say Chinatown will always be open for business.
Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin
A (Real) Convenience Store Woman — Yiyan Zhou of Heng Yun Grocery
Yiyan Zhou, the manager of Heng Yun Grocery
If you’re wondering why I’m writing about convenience stores on a food blog, then you must have never been to a convenience store in Asia. And if you’ve never been to a convenience store in Asia, you’re missing out. Convenience stores in Asia are AMAZING and are completely different from their counterparts in America. When you think of convenience stores in the U.S., you probably picture a sad looking building in a gas station whose only worthy offering is a public toilet. However, convenience stores in Asia are mini wonderlands with more ramen, potato chip, and flavored yogurt options than you could ever have conceived of. They usually have hot food bars with options that are legitimately delicious, and many of them have public seating areas where students, office workers, and tourists alike can plop down for a quick on-the-go meal or to chat with friends.
A Lawson’s in Osaka (PC: Andrew Leu)
In fact, many office workers in Japan regularly go to 7-Elevens and other konbini (short for konbiniensu sutoru, which is a transliteration of “convenience store”) chains for lunch because they offer such a wide variety of fresh food items (think: sushi, oden, rice bowls, soba noodles, onigiri, and countless types of bento boxes). Convenience stores in Asia also usually have free WiFi and offer a variety of essential services such as currency exchange, printing, and ticketing for popular attractions.
A typical konbini cart (PC: Markus Winkler)
When Patrick and I were in Japan for spring break during our senior year of college, we bought a variety of breakfast items and snacks from 7-Eleven every night (these are EVERYWHERE by the way). Some of my favorite items included milk tea (the Royal Milk Tea by a company called Sangaria is the best; you can get it hot or cold), milk bread, and fruit sandos (short for sandoitchi, which is a transliteration of “sandwich”; and yes, fruit sandwiches are a thing). Similarly, when we visited China in 2019, we always purchased a hodgepodge of food items – ranging from hot steamed buns to Beijing-style yogurt (which, by the way, is probably my favorite dairy item that has ever been made; I hope they come up with a plant-based version sometime soon because I really miss it) – before embarking on a long day of sightseeing. The convenience stores in Taiwan are really good as well; I distinctly remember a rainy day in Kaohsiung when Patrick and I ran to a nearby convenience store and had some ramen, hot dogs, and salted egg yolk potato chips by the window while watching the rain fall.
There are always tons of milk options (PC: Joshua Fernandez)
When I’m not traveling (i.e. now, because of COVID), I love watching YouTube videos of food bloggers (such as Mike Chen of Strictly Dumpling) who visit and compare convenience stores in different Asian countries. These videos are so fun because there are always new things to discover. Stores are constantly competing against each other and coming up with new food items in order to attract customers. For example, in Japan, 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson’s are regularly the top contenders for the best convenience store egg sando, which is probably the single most popular Japanese convenience store item. Each store has their own formulation, and the seasonings, bread-to-egg ratios, and consistencies are all a little different.
Onigiri display (PC: Markus Winkler)
In addition to being treasure troves of deliciousness, convenience stores also have a lot of cultural significance in many Asian countries. A few years ago, I read a book titled Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata that alludes to the significance of convenience stores in Japanese society. If you’re a K-drama fan, you’ll be familiar with the drunken convenience store scene that is in 90% of all Korean dramas: girl drinks soju alone at a table outside; guy sees girl and sits down next to her; girl starts yelling at guy; girl throws up; guy carries girl home; girl falls in love with guy a few episodes later. In China, the local convenience store at the base of an apartment complex is where all the grandpas and grandmas of the complex like to congregate on hot summer nights and exchange stories while eating sunflower seeds and peanuts.
A typical mini convenience store in China, typically located below apartments (PC: Li Lin)
Perhaps due to their prominence in Asia, convenience stores have long been a popular option for Asian immigrants looking to start a business in America. And, in some ways, they symbolize the American dream. Kim’s Convenience, a heartfelt sitcom about Korean-Canadian immigrants who own a convenience store in Canada, does a great job illustrating how the convenience store – along with laundromats and restaurants – has become a symbol of freedom and resilience: the freedom of business ownership and the corresponding resilience it takes to make an Asian-owned business succeed in a foreign country while navigating culture differences and racial discrimination.
A popular convenience Shanghainese convenience store chain (PC: Levi Lei)
As you can probably tell by now, convenience stores have always occupied a special place in my heart. That’s why, when I had the opportunity to interview a Chinese convenience store manager for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, I had all the feels. Although Heng Yun Grocery isn’t a full-service convenience store in that it doesn’t offer fresh food items (many Asian-owned convenience stores in America actually don’t have fresh food offerings since they require additional investment in food preparation and display equipment, which can be expensive), it still embodies the spirit of an Asian-American convenience store in America.
The manager, Yiyan Zhou, is a real-life “convenience store woman.” However, unlike the woman in Murata’s novel, Yiyan is vibrant, inspiring, and stong.
During this time of uncertainty and elevated violence against Asians in America, it’s more important than ever to give Asian communities a voice and tell their stories. I hope that Yiyan’s story can provide an additional perspective and help build the bridge of understanding and acceptance that we so desperately need. Even during these difficult times, despite increased xenophobia and violence, Yiyan just wants to work hard so that she can one day give back to society.
*****
Heng Yun Grocery is a small convenience store at 329 Grand Street that sells Asian and American grocery items and household goods. Yiyan Zhou, the manager of Heng Yun Grocery, emigrated from the Fuzhou province of China in 2003. During her 10+ years of working at the store, Yiyan has developed close relationships with many repeat customers who live in Chinatown. Though the pandemic has been tough on the business, Yiyan maintains a positive attitude and lives by her motto, “Be satisfied and be happy.”
Yiyan Zhou, the manager of Heng Yun Grocery
Tell us about your business and about who you are.
Hi, my name is Yiyan Zhou, and I have been the manager of Heng Yun for over 10 years now. The store was opened by one of my distant relatives over 20 years ago. We sell typical convenience store items such as snacks, drinks, beer, condiments, lifestyle products, garbage bags, hardware, lottery tickets, etc. We carry a lot of Asian snacks like shrimp crackers, taro chips, rice crackers, Pocky, etc. We have a microwave and water boiler so that customers can heat up microwaveable meals and instant ramen. (Alice note: This is very typical for convenience stores in Asia.)
Most of our customers are people who live or work in Chinatown. Ever since the COVID pandemic started, there have not been as many workers in Chinatown, so our business has taken a hit.
Some of my favorite childhood snacks
Microwave and water boiler
Could you please provide us with some background on yourself?
In 2003, I emigrated from the Fuzhou province of China, where I worked as a salesperson for women’s hair care products. After coming to New York, I worked at a restaurant for 2 -3 years before working at another convenience store on East Broadway for a few years.
Eventually, I got married and had children in the US. I also helped my mom immigrate here. My father passed away a while ago, so being closer to my mom is very nice.
How have you been faring with the impact of COVID?
We shut down for two and a half months because we weren’t getting enough foot traffic to justify keeping the lights on. At the onset of the pandemic, people were only buying cleaning related items such as alcohol, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper. These items were in such high demand that we couldn’t even get them from our wholesale suppliers. Even after the demand died down a bit, the wholesale prices were so high that we couldn’t make a profit on these items.
Sales of our grocery items have fallen to about a third of what they were before the pandemic. We had to let go of one of our employees as a result. Interestingly though, lottery ticket sales have gone up. Unfortunately, we don’t make much money on lottery tickets.
To this day, it’s still very difficult for us. Business is still not the same as before. Before the pandemic, we were open from 8am to 10pm every day. Now, we are only open from 9am to 6pm. One of the reasons we decided to reduce our hours is because Chinatown has been getting more dangerous since the pandemic started. There has also been more theft lately, so we’re scared of staying open late at night.
How has Welcome to Chinatown (WtC) helped your business?
When someone first came to our store and told us about Welcome to Chinatown, we didn’t believe them. We thought, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” However, when another person came over to tell us about it, we decided to take a chance and apply to the Longevity Fund. We never thought we would get the grant but are very appreciative that we were chosen.
We’ve been using the grant to pay rent and salaries. We have also applied for PPP loans. We’re hoping to use the grant money and PPP loans to get some new products so that we can attract some new customers.
Eventually, we want to be as self-sufficient as possible. We’re working as hard as possible so that we can reach that point, even though it might take some time. At some point, we want to be able to give back to society. Just like how WtC has helped us, we also want to help others in return.
What is something interesting that most people don’t know about Heng Yun?
All the old customers in the neighborhood know me. They are like family to me. Whenever a customer passes away, I feel like I’ve lost a family member. There are many touching things that happen with my customers that I can’t recall every single detail, but there is one story that I want to share: During this past Chinese New Year, some non-Asians gave me a red envelope. I didn’t care about how much money was in there — I was just really touched that they had remembered Chinese New Year. This made me really happy.
Another fun fact: The previous manager sold a lottery ticket to someone who won $1 million!
Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?
It’s hard to say, because so many stores in the area have failed or moved due to high rents. It’s hard just to keep a single store afloat, so we can’t even afford to think about opening a new store. Back before COVID, there were a lot of similar stores like this all around, but now there are not too many left. We’re just focused on surviving and serving our remaining customers.
Any advice you’d like to give to others who are struggling during COVID?
My life motto is, “Be satisfied and be happy.” Be satisfied with what you have and be happy with your life. Even though we are going through a hard time, at least the store is alive. Your health and life are the most important. Don’t ask for too much. We’re just lucky to be alive.
Anything else you would like people to know or talk about?
Again, just be satisfied and be happy! Just like with the lottery, some people will always want to take risks and try to make it big. It’s like gambling. However, I think it’s important to just be satisfied with what you have.
*****
Chinatown establishments like Heng Yun Grocery are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support — now more than ever before — to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say Chinatown will always be open for business.
Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin
On Food and Being Chinese in America
Photo by Frank Zhang
It took a long time for me to fully embrace and be proud of my culture. I emigrated from Chongqing, China when I was three years old, and the next decade of my life was spent moving from state to state. In most of the places I’ve lived, I was one of the only Asian kids at my school. It was tough. Kids can be mean. I was always made fun of for bringing a pink thermos full of homemade Chinese food to school instead of eating chicken nuggets and cheese pizza like all the other kids. I was told that my mom’s huíguō ròu (twice-cooked pork) looked “disgusting” and that my favorite pork and chive dumplings smelled like a dead animal. Even teachers would sometimes make insensitive remarks, from commenting on the clothes I wore, which often had broken English inscribed onto the fabric, to scrunching their noses at the food I ate.
Eventually, I started secretly skipping lunch and throwing my mom’s food away the second I got to school. I was so concerned with making those around me feel comfortable that I was willing to abandon my culture and my identity to do so. And it wasn’t just me. I would often overhear my parents argue about what to pack for their work lunches. I distinctly remember one day when my dad refused to bring suāncài yú (Sichuanese hot and sour fish) in order to “not offend the coworkers.”
We were walking on eggshells all the time. For my family, this was the reality of being Asian American immigrants: we were strangers in a country where we were full-fledged citizens, trying to live a quiet life without offending anyone with our culture.
Photo by Kevin Vigerie
When I finally began embracing my culture in college, I noticed the foods that kids had once made fun of me for eating were starting to become trendy. Regional Chinese food from places like Xiian, Chengdu and Shanghai were becoming more mainstream. I started seeing things like cumin lamb, Chongqing chicken and soup dumplings pop up on more and more menus. Foodies from all backgrounds were starting to take notice of the depth and diversity of Chinese cuisine. For a while, I thought that times had changed and that being Chinese was no longer something I would constantly be made consciously aware of.
However, when COVID hit, the thin veil of optimism that I had placed over myself was quickly stripped away. From media reports characterizing COVID as the “China virus” to social media commentators characterizing Chinese people as savages for eating bats, the anti-Chinese rhetoric — which quickly morphed into anti-Asian rhetoric — began to undo any progress that I thought I’d seen over the past decade. As the rhetoric escalated into hate and spiraled into violence against Asian Americans, I began questioning my identity again. When a man tried to spit on me on my way to Whole Foods, I thought to myself, “At least he didn’t try to do anything worse.” I began scanning my surroundings more often and became more aware of the space that I was occupying. Once again, I was walking on eggshells.
The events of these past few weeks have broken my heart. The lives that were taken in Atlanta on March 16th were full of promise. Their stories reminded me of my mom, my friends, and the countless other Asian American women I’ve crossed paths with during my life. Seeing their names flash across my screen made me think that this could have happened to someone I knew and loved, and it made me realize just how far we are from reaching a point of mutual respect and understanding.
Photo by Debbie Tea
*****
If this post feels a little raw and disorganized, it’s because I’m not good at writing about this kind of stuff. In fact, I’ve never written something like this before. However, I started this food blog with the goal of introducing people to all different kinds of foods and cultures, so I felt that it would be appropriate to put some of my thoughts and experiences about my own culture into words.
I hope that as America falls more in love with Asian food, it can eventually fall in love with its people too. I hope that the next time you go out for hot pot, ramen or Korean BBQ, you will pause for a second to appreciate the rich cultural histories that enable you to enjoy such a delicious meal. I hope that someday in the not-so-distant future, we won’t have to walk on eggshells anymore.
With Love,
Alice