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.

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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.

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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