The Sour Side of Chinese Restaurants1 John Jung2 Over the past century, Chinese restaurants became one of the most popular cuisines all across the United States and Canada, as well as in many other countries. The primary business of Chinese immigrants in North America in the late 19th century was the hand laundry but more Chinese began to open Chinatown cafes by the end of the 19th century. Whereas laundries relied primarily on non-Chinese customers, cafes served Chinese laborers, mostly bachelors, with dishes familiar to their village roots. Gradually, these eateries gained acceptance and patronage by non-Chinese customers although the menu offerings had to accommodate non-Chinese tastes. They increased rapidly in number, spreading to regions with few Chinese. By the early 1920s, restaurants overtook hand laundries as the most prevalent form of self-employment for Chinese because as one observer wrote, “Nowadays the entire public is eating Chinese dishes and thinks nothing of it.� Chinese restaurants range from small family-run restaurants, generally located in or near residential neighborhoods, to larger ones in Chinatowns with hired employees. Whereas the small restaurant often operated with the help of
family members, and
perhaps a few employees, the larger ones that served banquets typically required investments from many partners and hired managers, cooks, waiters, and other staff to handle actual operations. For example, one restaurateur in the early 1900s started with $5,000 and four partners. He expanded to three restaurants by 1924 with the investment of $100,000 from 40 partners, some in China who had never been to the United States.