We are here at Ding Ho restaurant on the westside.

And we're going to talk a little bit about the history of the restaurant, the good food that is served at the restaurant and what it kind of means to you all and to the community to have this restaurant here.

Thank you for taking the time to do this this morning.

Thank you, George.

Let's talk a bit about history.

1956 is when it started.

Gentlemen, Frank and Clifford Yee that started the business in 1956 in the little tiny little building on Broad Street.

And we grew to another second location in 64 till 2008.

We moved here in 2008 till present.

A total of 69 years in business.

It used to be kind of located in a gas station.

Is that correct?

Correct.

Then my grandfather Clifford and Frank Yee bought the property.

And converted it into a Chinese restaurant.

So this is a generational thing, guys.

Lucy, how do you feel about the restaurant itself?

How do you about what you've done over the years?

Oh, I feel good.

I feel I made a lot of friends here.

And my kids are now working.

My grandchildren are all now in here helping out.

Was this something that you always wanted to do when you started to notice what your goals were?

Oh no, when we were all young, there were six of us kids.

That's a requirement that you be working in the restaurant business.

I'm sure there's a few child labor laws where we're kind of skirted.

Yeah.

We all worked and worked hard for the restaurant.

And then we all pursue our own career and everything else.

And due time we decided to come back and help the restaurant and father retired in 2003.

And that dad comes in.

It comes in not as often.

He's 90 years old.

It's very gratifying when you get to come in every day and say hi to your father and work together.

Very gratifying.

Lessons you've learned about customers, about your restaurant, about what it means to people.

Respect.

I'm confident in what I do here.

And I made a lot of friends.

I am just a people person.

I get along with everyone.

Communication skills.

My son's helping out here now.

Teaching about communication skills.

Look people in the eyes when you're talking.

And you learn how to run a business.

It's very gratifying when you see customers coming in.

A lot of them have passed away, but see customers we wait on in high chairs.

And now they have grandkids.

The area is pretty industrial.

So who are your customers?

Where do they come from?

This west side of town you used to have General Motors, Westinghouse, a lot of blue collar jobs.

A lot of people used to frequent us.

They moved away, but they still come frequent.

It's just amazing to see these customers come in through the years.

So that's a testament to your business.

Very much so.

So what would you like for people to know about Ding Ho?

To us is about family.

You come in, we're talking about our family, who's working here.

And the tradition of the food passed down through the generation and telling the customers that.

And the customers bringing their kids, their grandkids in and saying how it tastes just the same as when they were a little kid.

It's very rewarding and gratifying to hear that.

Do you think that your children and your grandchildren will keep it going, will keep the tradition going?

The fact that I have 13 grandchildren, let's hope some of them would stand up.

The majority of them actually worked here as they pursue other careers.

When they were in high school, someone in college, now it's up to them.

They want to continue working here or pursue other opportunities.

There was a vlogger who came in, I understand, some years ago and it went viral and it really kind of poured the people in.

Tell me about that.

A gentleman from New York came in, did a video on us.

It was a 30, 45 second video and it just went viral.

We're not social media people.

Even my son said, it's going to get busy.

We had to close down early so our crew can make more food for the next day.

Great crew we have, working 12, 14 hour days at that time to play catch-up.

I'm sure it's a lot, but what would you use?

What would you suggest to be, as a first-time customer, I heard about the egg rolls?

We make them by hand here.

Oh yeah, we make about 3,000 egg rolls a week.

They're all made by hand.

We cook the cabbage, run it through a machine to press all the water out.

Then we run it to a sausage press.

Restaurant work is long hours, but it's very rewarding.

If let's say one day all family members say, I retired, going to another career, and this is just Lucy and I working here.

You know what?

Do we really want to continue this?

It's all about family, seeing your father, your sister, your neice, your nephew.

To work together, to know hey how's so and so doing and everything else.

It's very rewarding.

So hopefully we'll continue the tradition for many more years to come.

So family's working here, but everybody's got their own space that they're responsible for, things they're responsive for.

It's like a hierarchy.

Lucy and I of course run it, but certain family members have a responsibility.

You guys are in charge of this responsibility to make it work.

Any questions, come ask us.

And that's how it works.

So each person has a certain responsibility.

It makes our life much easier to help family members work together.

That's the only way it will succeed.

I will tell you, it's kind of a model for a family-run restaurant to be successful and still be going.

And for the generations running and now to be into it and want it to continue.

So it's really kind of the cool thing.

Steve, Lucy, thank you once again for allowing us to come in this morning and talk to you about Ding Ho Restaurant.

We know it's about the food, which I'm looking at now and getting ready to dive into.

But I just wish you, wow, I wish you all the love.

In the future, and I hope your restaurant continues to do well.

Thank you.

Thank you, George.

Enjoy.

This is the special sauce that goes with it.

Definitely got to try this spear rib.

Definitely have to try the worst you can.

Chops to grab a crab rangoon.

Well, I guess I'll try.

I might drop one on you, George, so bear with it.

You're good.

There you go.

Normally, if I'm not sitting at the table, I hold my egg roll upright.

There's no right way of eating an egg roll.