039 | "Founder of PF Changs Invested in this Chef, from Yale" (Lucas at Junzi Kitchen)

Feb 14

Today’s guest on the “Phil with F30” podcast is Lucas Sin – Chef of Junzi Kitchen

Forbes List: USA
Year: 2020
Category: Food & Drink

It was his Asian parents’ dream to send him to the U.S. for higher education so he didn’t end up working in some low paying kitchen. So it’s ironic that this son left Hong Kong, went to Yale, and returned to a Chinese kitchen. Lucas Sin, Chef of Junzi Kitchen, has four locations in NY City and New Haven, Connecticut. Lucas raised over $5-million in funding, including an investment from the co-founder of PF Changs.

Lucas’s recipe for success is based on his curiosity about American Chinese cuisine with a dash of cognitive science!

In our conversation Lucas shares:

The importance of apprenticing-scrubbing dishes and working your way up.
Searching for nuances of Chinese American food.
Being quick to abandon things that don’t work or improve it, so it does.
Understanding the customer experience.

With ingenuity and quick pivoting, Junzi Kitchen stayed open during the pandemic. Lucas organized a system to work with existing programs and invited other restaurants to feed front-line workers with safe and scalable ways that meet hospital standards. He continues feeding workers by taking donations.

Consider making a donation. And if you get the opportunity, eat more fried noodles–Junzi’s Chow Mein. It’s really good!

“Under 30 Seconds Round”

1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?

Lydia Davis books. She packs an immense amount of meaning in a few sentences in her short stories.

2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?

Best - Exercise resistance bands.
Worst - An air fryer.

3. What’s the most impactful thing you do in your Morning and Evening routines?

I don’t have a morning or evening routine. I have a coffee machine that wakes me up better than an alarm clock.

4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of going to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?

I believe in going to school. It made me a more curious and empathetic being. I’d also invest in real-life work experience.

5. What’s something you never knew you needed?

Espresso, Aero Press, and drip coffee machines.

In the REVIEW SECTION, please let me know…

The city / country you’re tuning in from!
How Lucas Sin’s story has inspired you! And, your favorite part of this episode!
Tell me the questions you’d like me to ask future Forbes 30 Under 30 Members!

GUEST INFO: Lucas Sin – Chef of Junzi Kitchen