Staff members prepare food at Junzi Kitchen in New York, the United States, Oct. 7, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Mocheng)
Zhao believed their strategy of running Junzi could be the trend for promoting Chinese food in the world. The chain is rated 4.5 out of 5 on Yelp, a major online review forum, much higher than other decades-old Chinese food chains.
The midtown location is often packed at lunch time with long queues, and online orders can be as many as 60 per day, said restaurant manager Heather Grebla, who joined Junzi over a year ago.
Grebla has been working in the food industry for 30 years. Though most of the staff members of Junzi are non-Chinese, she said they haven't encountered any cultural shock with the managerial level.
"This is honestly the best company I've worked for as far as how they care about their people," she said. "It's just great to work for a company that has that much passion for what they do, and they want their team to have that passion too."
Grebla said working in Junzi has refreshed her knowledge of Chinese food because most Americans only had its westernized version before, which are often salty, greasy and with limited cooking methods.
"There's lots of different types of dishes and different flavor profiles that we here in America have never been introduced before," she said, adding that eating here is "an education and a cultural experience."
The Yale-educated entrepreneurs share an ambitious goal of making their brand the world's largest modern Chinese food chain with over 1,000 locations, and are quite confident about Junzi's prospect.
"The Chinese immigrants who came here some 30 years ago didn't have the resources or support to do this. But we are born in an era of entrepreneurship in China and many investors are optimistic about our business potential," said Zhao.
"I think we are not just running a restaurant brand, we are actually building a new cultural symbol of China through food. I think this could be quite meaningful," the CEO added.
