Profile | Korean fast food pioneer in Hong Kong on proving herself to her mother and her fast pivot to selling supermarket and online meals in the pandemic
- Milie Kim’s mother opened Korean restaurant Lee Fa Yuen in the 1960s, but didn’t believe her daughter could make a success of Korean fast food in the 1990s
- Yet she did, and now owns 19 restaurants including Japanese outlet Oishi Don. At the age of 60, she tells Bernice Chan, she is looking to her son to take over
“My mother came to Hong Kong in 1963 to help my aunt, who had a food and beverage business here. Two years later, my mum opened Lee Fa Yuen, which we believe was the first Korean restaurant in Hong Kong. I was four years old at the time.
“My father was a Korean civil servant and his salary was not that great. Like most Korean mums, mine was eager to send her three children to the best schools, so she was more than willing to sacrifice and work in Hong Kong to send us to the United States.
“In 1975, my older sister and I came to Hong Kong. My oldest brother was already in the US studying. I was 15 years old at the time and went to [international school] King George V. I knew some English because I had lived in the US for two years before, but not enough to know what the teacher was saying, so it was a guessing game. But because I was young I was able to catch up, so after six months I was doing OK.
“Ever since I was a child watching my mother cooking, doing her business, I had this dream that someday I could do better than her. I always challenged her, suggesting new ways of doing things. But she was very conservative, so I thought someday, when I have the opportunity to run my own business, I will make changes.”
