Hartford Business Journal

18 Hartford Business Journal • June 17, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com EXECUTIVE PROFILE Chen builds a small, multicultural restaurant empire in Greater Hartford By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com H echeng Chen has a plan. Since he started work- ing long, strenuous hours in his family's Chinese takeout restaurant at 16, Chen has dreamed of eventually starting a chain of Chinese food takeout restaurants — eateries that are a step above places like Panda Express in quality, but still takeout-based, where employees work reasonable hours, with time to rest. Since then, he's opened more than five restaurants serving cuisines ranging from Chinese to burgers to his most recent addition, Chosen 1 Cajun Seafood in Hartford's Parkville neighborhood. Several of his eateries are in the region's food mecca of West Hartford Center, and later this month he'll debut another new concept, Mr. Chow, an Asian fusion spot on Park Street in West Hartford. "What I'm doing right now, it seems unrelated to [the Chinese takeout chain concept], but that's always my goal," Chen said. "I'm trying to generate some capital, and then have more partners join the team to make that happen." Working toward opening a chain restaurant while owning and operat- ing multiple full-service eateries serv- ing different cuisines seems like a lofty goal. But at only 33 years old, Chen has proven to be a serial and versatile res- taurateur who seems to lean into large tasks with a low-key demeanor. "If you are willing to do it, you can do anything," Chen said. Seeing opportunity Chen's entry into the world of own- ing and running restaurants began at age 19, when he bought a then-strug- gling Chinese food joint in Willington he called New Garden. Business at the restaurant was starting to turn around in 2006, Chen said, but an armed robbery by a few out-of-state teenagers soured him on that location. "They used a shotgun, they just poked it at my nose, so I asked the landlord to put up bullet-proof glass, but he refused," Chen said, recalling that he began jump- ing each time a car appeared to pull in too quickly. "I wasn't really scared when it happened, but I got really scared after- ward. … I couldn't do it." That's when Chen decided it was time to expand his culinary horizons. He traveled the country, working at different restaurants serving different kinds of food to get an inside look at how they operated, always with an eye of what lessons he could adapt. His re-entry into owning a restaurant came when he bought into his in-laws' Japanese food place in West Hartford Center, Ichiro Hibachi and Sushi. Chen initially bought in as a 27-per- cent partner, but eventually became Ichiro's majority owner. Owning a sit-down sushi and hibachi eatery was much different than owning China Garden, or simply working at restau- rants, he said. "Dealing with people, forming relation- ships is the main thing that I learned," Chen said. "It's very interesting, and then it's very complicated, too, but it's fun." Since then, Chen has either solely or partly owned spots including Icy Rolls in West Hartford Center, a Wayback Burg- ers franchise in Granby and Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken on the University of Connecticut's Storrs campus. The idea to open a cajun seafood restaurant came partially from friends and family, Chen said. "My brother's a foodie, … he always wanted to do a lot of different ideas. … Most ideas came from him," Chen said. "But for this one, I have many friends down in Alabama, Florida, and they've been doing (cajun sea- food) for many years, and most of the restaurants are very successful, and I wanted to build one here." Chen originally intended to open Cho- sen 1 Cajun Seafood in West Hartford Center, and even spent about $20,000 on building permits there, he said. But sud- den issues with the site's landlord forced him and his partners to look elsewhere, to Hartford's Parkville neighborhood. He spent about a half-million dollars opening Chosen 1 on Park Street, an area with a multicultural food scene including restaurants serving Thai, Jamaican and Brazilian fares. Chen said the mixup might have been a blessing in disguise. "I think it's even better here," Chen said of the Parkville location. "And as it's turned out the sales are great." As he prepares to open yet another restaurant, Mr. Chow, early this sum- mer, Chen is still focused on his long- term goal of establishing a chain res- taurant. In conversation, he frequently paints a verbal picture of it. "We're going to have a much smaller menu, then people don't have difficulty choosing from that many options, and also it'll be clean," Chen said. "It's going to be an open kitchen … everything will be professional, and staff will be well- trained." Hecheng Chen Owner, Chosen 1 Cajun Seafood, Mr. Chow Residence: West Hartford Executive philosophy: "I'm trying to change the working environment for Chinese takeout restaurants … so people can work regular hours, and not such a crazy number of hours." Hecheng Chen recently added Chosen 1 Cajun Seafood and the soon-to-open Mr. Chow to the list of restaurants he owns. HBJ PHOTO | SEAN TEEHAN

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