Unstoppable: the bittersweet tale of running 10-plus eateries amid Covid’s hospitality woes

Saturday, 27 January 2024

In six years, Mia Zhao and Andy Shiau have brought more than 10 eateries to the Garden City, including Table of Munchies, Ramen Ria and Midnight Shanghai. WEI SHAO spoke with Zhao to learn more about how they keep their empire growing, despite the challenges thrown their way by Covid.

Mia Zhao opened her first dumpling bar six years ago to keep her retired parents busy while they were visiting New Zealand.

But things haven’t gone as she planned.

Her parents - a rocket engineer mother and military father - only returned to China in October last year.

“Over six years, she never stopped a day working at our warehouse, making the food,” Zhao said of her mother.

“Finally, I managed to send my mum and dad back to China for a three-month holiday.

“As a small business owner, I am too stuck in the moment in a way that I am always trying to get my tasks done, but am ignoring the bigger picture - to take care of my family.”

Her parents - Anqi Ke and Qizhi Zhao - could have “a normal life” in China. “But here they are not, and they can’t,” Zhao said.

After seeing other small businesses in the neighbourhood close down one after another over the past three years or so, Zhao said her family realised their business would also close if they took a break.

“My mum always says we can’t lose this. We can’t go too far away. But she is always tired. That’s her mentality.”

Since opening Eightgrains in 2017, Zhao and husband Andy Shiau have brought over 10 more incredible food outlets to Christchurch under their umbrella company, Double Dribble Group.

“We opened three in 2019, including Table of Munchies in Merivale in July, Ramen Ria in Oxford Tce, as well as Gelato and Tea at Riverside Market in October,” Zhao said.

“Then we started Midnight Shanghai, right before Covid hit in March 2020.”

The pair launched Boom Boom Chicken in December 2021, and Muy Muy, a popular Latin-fever, Mexican tapas bar in late 2022.

“Andy is the ideas man. He always finds the niche market and opportunity … it just all happened at the same time,” Zhao said.

“I am the one who follows up, makes it practical, kind of making a to-do-list.”

Zhao, 35, worked for years in IT before making the jump into restaurant ownership.

She could not pinpoint what set her apart in the competitive Christchurch hospitality scene, but said she was passionate about training her staff and thought securing the right location was crucial to their success.

“Our locations gave us quite a bit of advantage, covering locals and tourists, where a lot of other businesses, especially those in the CBD area, would not have as much, so they had a bigger hit [during Covid].

“We have been very lucky.”

She felt the worst of the Covid pandemic was over, but still had concerns for the country’s economy.

“Will it be a situation where … we recover and then face another recession?”

The next Chinese year, starting February 10, is Year of the Dragon. Zhao - who was also born in the Year of the Dragon - takes the significance seriously, so does not have anything big planned.

“My mum said to me that, ‘it would be either a disaster for you, or a lucky year for you. So you’d better be careful’.

“And I believe in that,” she said.

In Chinese culture, the animal associated with your year of birth - or 本命年 - carries a lot of cultural baggage and does not translate well to English.

Chinese people call it “the year of fate”, with a common belief that any year that features the same animal as the year of your birth will either bring spectacular heights of success, or the deepest depths of failure.

People do various things to protect themselves from this, including wearing red underwear, or a lucky red bracelet. Red is a lucky colour in China. Don’t laugh - the Chinese are serious about this.

Looking ahead to the next three years, Zhao revealed Shiau has been mulling over the idea of opening an Asian supermarket that would provide ready-to-cook meal kits, including dumplings and ramen noodles.

“They were in big demand during Covid. They taste as good as you dine in our eateries, but take little time to cook at home,” Zhao said.

“They are not highly processed foods, with no nasty stuff. We will also present fresh ingredients that we are using in our restaurants on the counter.”

For her own 2024 new year's resolution, Zhao said she would try to have better work-life balance, “if I can”.