Aug 25, 2026 · 44 min
Xiaoya turns a creative restaurant vision into a viable business
How to Run Your Dream Restaurant Like a Business
The episode shows how a Portland restaurant confronted nearly two years of losses without abandoning its first-generation American identity.
- 1Xiaoya raised $1.2 million yet still faced nearly two years of losses, exposing the gap between opening capital and sustainable operations.
- 2The owners reshaped menus, brunch, staffing, and labor costs after realizing their original model could not support the restaurant.
- 3Operational changes preserved Xiaoya’s creative identity while making its food and pricing fit the neighborhood it hoped to serve.
Don't miss
Louis recounts hosting his wedding at Xiaoya while the restaurant was close to financial collapse, a crisis that forced major operational changes.
The brief
Alex speaks with Jolyn Chen and Louis Lin, co-owners of Portland’s Xiaoya, about the gap between building a meaningful restaurant and running one that can survive.
The couple raised $1.2 million through family and friends, watched cash disappear during construction, and endured nearly two years of losses before changing course.
Xiaoya’s original menu signaled expensive fine dining, so the owners reworked its structure, added brunch, and reduced kitchen staffing to match the neighborhood they wanted.
The restaurant’s first-generation American identity spans French, American, East Asian, and Southeast Asian influences, including savory masa madeleines and khao soi-inspired pasta.
The darkest period came while Louis and Jolyn hosted their wedding at Xiaoya near financial collapse, forcing them to confront an unsustainable operating model.
Nearly three years in, they say Xiaoya is still their dream restaurant because operational compromise helped preserve, rather than erase, its creative point of view.
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