‘Restaurant Impossible: Last Call’ Swoops in to Help Save a Chinatown Gem

With social media, delivery, food costs and more uncontrollable forces at play, many restaurants are feeling the heat.

“If you’re not evolving, you’re closing,” chef Aarón Sánchez admitted, and evolve is exactly what he and co-host restaurateur Jen Agg hope to help establishments do on their brand-new series Restaurant Impossible: Last Call. Together, this dynamic duo has opened 15 dining establishments. They’ve also literally written the book about how to make unforgettable recipes and a successful restaurant.

Their goal on the series? Visit restaurants on the brink and try to breathe new life into them before it’s too late.

Family-owned Yueh Tung Restaurant has been a fixture in Toronto’s dining scene since 1986. Jeanette, who oversees the front of the house, and Joanna, the chef, are taking it over from their parents, Mei and Michael. (“This was my dad’s sixth child,” Joanna said. “Actually, his first child,” Jeanette countered.)

Both parents came from humble beginnings and worked 18 hours per day, seven days a week, to grow their following. Michael had a stroke, “and that’s when I realized I had to step in,” Joanna said.

To differentiate themselves from other Chinese restaurants in the area, Michael infused the menu with Hakka flair. This type of cuisine is umami-rich, spicier than Cantonese and seamlessly blends culinary traditions from China and India.

Both parents are still involved and have a lot to say about how the sisters are running the show to try to carry on their family’s legacy at Yueh Tung.

Up until 2020, business was strong. But the pandemic “decimated us,” the sisters agreed. The lunch crowd disappeared and traffic overall diminished. On the typical day, the dining room remains only about 20% full. “We’re not profitable,” Joanna said, before revealing the terrifying reality that she had a mini-stroke in the exact restaurant kitchen where her dad also had his life-altering one. (This hits close to home for Jen, as she acted as a caretaker for her partner, Roland Jean, after his stroke.)

“We are the last Chinese restaurant in Old Chinatown,” Jeanette said. This is one of the busiest parts of the city, according to Jen. Yet “we’re right on the line of collapse every day,” Jeanette admitted. In fact, the sisters both took a pay cut recently to ensure that the staff and vendors could all be paid.

“This is our ‘Hail Mary.’ If the customers don’t come in and we don’t get butts in the seats, that’s it. We’ll wrap it up,” Jeanette conceded, as both sisters had tears in their eyes.

Aarón and Jen have three days and $20,000 to try to help resuscitate this neighborhood fixture. Within the first hour, they notice that the restaurant’s portions are too big, the prices are too low (most large entrees clock in at just $20) and the staffing levels are too high for Yueh Tung to be profitable. The other issue? Rent is a whopping $30,000 per month. There’s no way the sisters can come out ahead.

Jen noted that a restaurant should be able to earn back a rent payment on a busy single day, such as a Friday. As things stood, the sisters said that Yueh Tung wasn’t even close to meeting that mark. Plus, their food costs were also 33%; much higher than Jen’s recommended 20%.

Even with this data in mind, Joanna was terrified to trim the portions. She feared backlash in online reviews and worried what might happen if they didn’t stick to the script their parents wrote. “Culturally, we've always been taught to really pay respects to our elders, and so we still do that,” Jeanette said.

But the sisters realized that there would be no profitable path forward if they continued chugging along as is.

To sample what Yueh Tung has to offer, Aarón and Jen tried two cocktails — Saketini (all cranberry juice) and a Piña Colada (too sweet) — plus Cantonese Chow Mein (which lacked heat), Crispy Beef Over Rice (the flavorful sauce overwhelmed the meat), Wonton Chips With Sweet and Sour Sauce (that was only sweet, not sour) and Hakka Sweet Soy Noodles (“I would eat a whole plate of that,” Jen said).

Diving deeper into the menu, the sisters said the best-seller was the Chili Chicken, which blends South Indian and Chinese flavors in true Hakka fashion. It raked in $48,000 per month. The sisters confirmed that this is the dish that really put them on the map. Aarón said, “The flavors are there, and I understand why this is your most popular dish.”

That being said, he recommended that Joanna should focus on dialing in this recipe and trim down the portion size. Considering they sell 2,190 orders at $22 per month, that could really move the needle. (The food cost is $8.50, meaning the food cost should be $24, Aarón explained. At that rate, they’re leaving more than $52,000 on the table per year.)

After doing their homework, Aarón, Jen and the sisters agree that it’s time for a fresh start. They close Yueh Tung for just three days to minimize profit loss and get to work immediately.

The space hadn’t been renovated in 20 years. “People just want to feel good, and everything I do in a dining room is in service of that,” Jen said. The action plan: Keep the koi artwork that nods to the fishing village where the sisters’ great-grandma lived, but remove the carpet and replace it with a light-colored tile. Replace the booth cushions with lighter fabric, add features that make the bar more of a focal point, commission custom art to infuse even more personality and paint the gold accents antique white for a fresher feel. Pendant lights and wall sconces would be “a real game-changer” for the overall atmosphere, Jen noted. The goal is warm, a bit quirky and welcoming.

Jeanette and Jen also sit down and look at the financials — and it’s clear that they’re overstaffed. Jeanette understandably worries about Joanna having enough help in the kitchen, in an effort to hopefully reduce the level of stress she feels — and potentially prevent another, and worse, stroke. Jen empathizes completely. But the reality is, “if you don't do this, there's no restaurant, and there's no jobs for anyone,” Jen said.

Meanwhile, it’s time to explore ways to refresh the menu. The first dish Aarón teaches Joanna is Szechuan butter shrimp, which he suggests serving in a mini skillet topped with fried shallots, crispy garlic and lotus root. If the sisters sell this at $19, the restaurant will make nearly $14 in profit per order. (The food cost works out to 28%.)

Next up is a chili crab spring roll. Sambal oelek and yogurt are the two secret ingredients that make the filling “really pop,” Aarón said as he walked Joanna through how to make this new Hakka cuisine recipe. At a $16 menu price, this dish will earn them more than $13, with a food cost of just 17%.

Speaking of food cost, Aarón also teaches Joanna how to reduce the portion size of the ever-popular chili chicken from 20 ounces to 17. If she stacked the pieces artfully, the platter could appear even more bountiful than before, even with a few ounces less of meat. With that small shift in portion size, they’ll be saving nearly $34,000 per year.

After three efficient and impactful days, it was time for the big reveal of Yueh Tung's dining room 2.0. Jeanette raved about how light it felt. Both sisters adored the family photos that now line one wall. The koi art is now bolstered by curtains, which draw even more attention to that meaningful piece.

“We've cried so much, I think throughout this whole process, but these are the first happy tears,” Jeanette said after the full tour. Mom Mei joined the party and gave Aarón and Jen big, grateful hugs.

Now, all that was left to do was conquer the first night of service to kick things off in style. Tableside cocktails, countless crab spring roll orders and, of course, many of the previous menu staples inspired diners — new and returning — to describe the whole experience as “phenomenal.”

“I can see the growth, I can see the acceptance of new ideas, us imparting our knowledge and experience to this lovely family to make it a better restaurant,” Aarón said. “Yueh Tung has an unbelievably bright future.”

Three months later, we checked in with the sisters who verified that business has increased, despite the smaller portions. Plus, no staffing cuts were necessary. You can follow along with what’s new and next for the sisters and Yueh Tung Restaurant on Instagram.

“You just helped make a small business and a family survive, so thank you,” Joanna said, overwhelmed with emotion.