The Kids Are Alright: How Next-Generation Restaurateurs Are Moving Family Business Forward
Geovanni and Candace Lambert: M&M BBQ at Dorchester Brewing
Photos by Michael Piazza
The day that M&M BBQ was finally able to serve customers on the restaurant’s new roof deck, Geovanni Lambert was busy. It was six months since his longtime local catering company debuted a takeout kitchen at Dorchester Brewing Company, and the third-generation M&M owner was about to start table service for the first time since COVID had shut it down after just six weeks in business.
After Lambert dropped off packaged meals for a Boston school lunch program, his phone rang. He answered—and learned that his 92-year-old grandmother had just passed away.
“I didn’t have too much time to grieve,” Lambert recalls. Back at the brewery, “it just gets slammed.” To Lambert, “that’s her telling us, ‘You are going to be alright. You’ll get through it.’”
It was a lesson the late Marion Hill—cofounder of M&M BBQ along with her husband, Maurice—had taught him many times over the past 30-plus years. His grandparents’ advice was that the food industry takes hard work, says Lambert, who grew up around the grill before taking over the family food truck 17 years ago. He now employs his wife, Candace; his mother, Leona; his cousin, pitmaster Jarrett Loatman; along with other cousins and non-relatives.
His grandparents “had already instilled a work ethic in my life that is impeccable to a lot of people.” That’s the legacy of Marion and Maurice’s barbecue joint, Lambert says—besides their delicious spice rubs and sauce recipes, which Lambert hopes to bottle someday.
“They gave me a lot of experience, knowledge and understanding [about] how to take care of myself and do things my own way,” he says. Family-owned or -controlled firms account for about 90% of American business enterprises, Census data shows, but only 30% of family-owned businesses make it to the second generation, according to the trade group Family Business Alliance. For a notoriously difficult industry like independent restaurants, making it five years is a business success story—let alone on to the next generation.
Dozens of restaurants do it, however. Thriving is often surviving, and it takes steady dedication, frequent innovation and lots of trust, respect and love.
1250 Massachusetts Ave, Dorchester
mandmribs.com
Seizi, Jitsue, Kenshi, Saburo and Mindy Imura: Café Sushi
Three economic downturns have spurred existential changes at CAFÉ SUSHI since Saburo and Jitsue Imura first opened the Cambridge restaurant in 1984. First was the unexpected “Black Monday” of 1987, which caused dining-in business to fall as precipitously as the stock market. Saburo responded, his son Seizi recalls, by drumming up catering business from nearby hotels to bring in a new revenue stream.
The financial crisis of 2008 hit around the time when Seizi Imura and his now-wife, Mindy, returned from rising-star roles at the Bay Area’s Sushi Ran to help the family out temporarily. The economic landscape slowed their plans, however, and before they knew it, they were in Cambridge to stay. Seizi implemented his Michelin-starred training to upgrade the café, which was busiest then on Dollar Sushi Sundays. Around 2014, Seizi’s older brother, Kenshi, joined the team as sushi chef.
Kenshi has brought a welcome analytical perspective to the family business, Seizi says, especially during the most recent crisis. When the pandemic hit, Seizi felt burnt out, he says. It was Mindy and Ken who spearheaded Café Sushi’s response: a robust takeout program, with no plans to reopen for indoor dining, at least through this fall.
It’s been an adjustment for Seizi, to let go of calling all the shots. “I ultimately know that having different ideas is going to create a better foundation.”
1105 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
cafesushicambridge.com
Philip and Filippo Frattaroli: Lucia Ristorante, Ducali, Cunard Tavern
Philip Frattaroli has never wanted for different ideas. He spent his early years living above his father’s LUCIA RISTORANTE on Hanover Street, where he’s now part-owner, among his own places like Ducali Pizzeria & Bar. Frattaroli’s uncles, Donato and Tony, are in the business with restaurants around Boston, and so are cousins Donato Jr. and Nick.
“There’s always a good opinion to get. Sometimes you don’t want it. Sometimes it’s given to you even if you don’t ask for it,” Frattaroli says. “It’s like having a team of consultants everywhere you go.” One piece of advice he willingly took? Real estate is key. Frattaroli’s father, Filippo, bought Lucia’s space in 1977, and the building that now houses Ducali in the 1980s. In more recent years, the younger Phil purchased and developed an East Boston warehouse where he opened Cunard Tavern.
“It’s been a really smart way to go into business,” Frattaroli says. “It’s not as much pressure on the restaurant.”
415 Hanover St, Boston
luciab.st
Ducali
289 Causeway St, Boston
duca.li
Cunard Tavern
24 Orleans St, East Boston
cunardtavern.com
Ricky and Brian Moy: China Pearl, Shojo
Ricky Moy always told his kids that they should go to law or medical school—but he also always told them to bus the tables. Both Patty and Brian Moy did go on to college, but they gravitated back to the family flagship, CHINA PEARL. Today, Brian owns the growing Shojo Group of pan-Asian hot spots. He’s also his father’s partner at the classic Chinatown dim sum house, where Patty manages the day-to-day.
When Ricky would say things like, “Restaurants are not for you,” Brian knew his father was just looking out for him. He had watched the man work double shifts, six days a week, forever. A passionate chef, he would cook every dish, rarely delegating, Brian says. As Brian was in his early 20s and getting out more on his own, he knew the business didn’t have to be his father’s way.
Amid the 2009 recession, the Moys bought real estate within the China Pearl building, and a few years later, Brian persuaded his father to let him open something new. Shojo was built for a clientele just moving into downtown Boston’s high rises, and his father didn’t understand the bold flavors and loud music they were seeking—nor why his son wasn’t always the manager on duty. He still doesn’t really get it, Brian says, but he's eased up. “At the end of the day, for my father it was more about the results: seeing that we’re busy.”
And even though he dissuaded his son from going into the family business, Brian now knows his father’s “true desire: He wants China Pearl to continue for multi generations.” That’s why it’s undergoing a huge renovation, set to reopen for the 2021 holidays.
Ricky labored to establish a strong foundation for his kids in Boston, after emigrating from Hong Kong as a teen. Brian’s own goal is similar—to establish infrastructure for his children—but it’s influenced by the comfort he grew up with, similar to how more recent waves of visitors to Chinatown are looking for something beyond the traditional.
“And, part of it, thinking back,” Brian says, “I wanted to emulate my father. He was good at what he did.”
9 Tyler St, Boston (currently closed for renovations)
chinapearlrestaurants.com
Shojo
9 Tyler St, Boston
shojoboston.com
Bessie King was only a high school freshman when her mother, Julie, opened VILLA MEXICO CAFÉ, but she quickly realized it was a labor of love. Bessie would wait tables at the original Woburn restaurant most evenings, and she usually helped close it down each night, too. “It’s an extension of you,” she says of the family business. She saw firsthand that it was hard for her mother to hire and retain managers “who care as much as you do.”
For that reason, King continued to help out while attending Northeastern University, once the café moved to Boston. But after she graduated and moved on to a master’s program in New York City, she knew her mom lacked support to manage the business at home, she says.
King quit her fledgling career and joined her mother as a partner when Villa Mexico had to move a third time, to its current location in Boston’s Financial District. She’s worked almost daily ever since—until COVID hit. Now, Bessie has stepped out of the kitchen and back into the corporate world for financial reasons, while also becoming a board member of Massachusetts Restaurants United, where she’s a prominent advocate for restaurateurs for whom English is not their first language. She wants to use her corporate experience to support her family, and that includes the family business—even if it means taking more of a hands-off role.
“That is my dream and hope, that together we can find a good team to continue operating the restaurant under our family values and food,” she says.
121 Water St, Boston
villamexicocafe.us
Ping Jan Den, Ran Duan, Xiaoyi Duan: Sichuan Garden, Blossom Bar, Ivory Pearl
Brookline doesn’t look very different now than it did when Ran Duan was growing up there, but the makeup of its business districts is constantly changing. SICHUAN GARDEN, the restaurant Duan’s parents, Xiaoyi Duan and Ping Jan Den, opened a few years after the family first immigrated to Boston, is still around, but it has changed, too. In early 2018, Duan—an award-winning bartender— transformed it into BLOSSOM BAR AT SICHUAN GARDEN, featuring his parents’ classic menu and new cocktails on par with Boston’s best.
“If you don’t change with the current times, it’s really hard to survive,” Duan says, reminiscing about long-gone favorite neighborhood sushi and taco joints.
Cocktails have brought in new clientele—and introduced them to his family’s recipes. His parents are still in the kitchen regularly, and his father is a partner in Duan’s latest endeavor: seafood restaurant Ivory Pearl across town. But the older generation’s lives have slowed down considerably since Duan came on board. He recognizes the privilege of their sacrifices.
“I feel so fortunate for my parents to be able to give me this platform to be so creative,” Duan says. “I only hope to elevate my family’s brand.”
295 Washington St, Brookline
blossombarbrookline.com
Ivory Pearl
1704 Beacon St, Brookline
ivorypearlbar.com
David and Will Gilson: The Herb Lyceum, Puritan & Co., The Lexington, Café Beatrice, Gepetto
To find the roots of the Gilson family’s farm-to-table enterprise, you have to go back to the Mayflower. After the family got to the New World, they made a home in the town of Groton. The 10-acre farm that Will Gilson grew up on had been cared for by generations of his family.
Gilson, now a Cambridge chef, was young when his father, David Gilson, purchased THE HERB LYCEUM, a potted-plant brand, and moved it to Groton. They began hosting classes and seminars highlighting the produce they grew. “I hated being in dirt, but I started to really get into the idea of cooking,” Gilson says.
After meeting city chefs while helping his dad vend at local farmers markets, he embarked on a culinary career in Boston. Gilson now owns Puritan & Company, plus a trio of new restaurants at Cambridge Crossing. His team has also partnered up with the family business, helping to staff dinners at The Herb Lyceum and activate its year-round events.
The pandemic slowed the growth of this latest chapter, but there’s time to see it through: The Groton property is in a family trust. “I look forward to having a space that is always connected to my family—my roots, my heritage, where I came from—as part of our group,” Gilson says.
368 Main St, Groton
herblyceum.com
Puritan & Co.
1166 Cambridge St, Cambridge
puritancambridge.com
The Lexington at Cambridge Crossing
thelexingtoncx.com
Cafe Beatrice at Cambridge Crossing
thelexingtoncx.com/cafe-beatrice
Gepetto at Cambridge Crossing
thelexingtoncx.com/geppetto
Tam and Thanh Le: Pho Hua, Reign Drink Lab
Legacy is important to Tam Le. His parents’ success with PHO HOA in Dorchester allowed him to pursue a business master’s at Babson College, he says, and in 2019, he bought into the noodle house. The timing proved imperative: Le is grateful he could help the older generation, including his in-laws of Hien Vuong restaurant in Worcester, navigate COVID relief efforts.
“My dad [Thanh Le] went through the war then immigrated here with nothing. COVID was, like, my first taste of a difficult time,” Le says. “I was not going to let COVID stop us.”
Le’s creative outlet, Reign Drink Lab, has been steadfast, thanks to its quick-service business model and existing presence on third-party delivery apps. Reign’s success has shown Le there’s an appetite for more Vietnamese coffee in Boston.
This fall, the former Pho Hoa function-room-turned-drink-lab will transform into Caphe, a new Vietnamese coffee company Le is developing with fellow first-generation entrepreneur Brian Moy. Reign drinks will live on Caphe’s menu, but the concept will expand Boston’s idea of Vietnamese coffee, Le says. Eventually, he hopes to scale up with more cafés and his own coffee roasting company, which he would call Legacy Caphe.
“This is our opportunity to plant the flag [and say], ‘We’re very proud of our Vietnamese culture and our heritage,’” Le says. “My father won’t talk about it, but I know it’s a big source of pride for him.”
1370 Dorchester Ave, Boston
phohoarestaurant.com
Reign Drink Lab
1370 Dorchester Ave, Boston
reigndrinklab.com
This story appeared in the Fall 2021 issue.
