Ramping up on digital strategies and AI doubled revenue for this resourceful restaurateur
Patrick Cheng leveraged technology to fuel growth, and he isn’t stopping there.
Patrick Cheng turned a setback into a comeback by converting a restaurant into a catering business. (Photo credit: Tom Sanders)
When Patrick Cheng decided to acquire a run-down Chinese restaurant in Dunwoody, Georgia, he was at a professional crossroads. It was 2020, and his rapidly growing homestay rental business had suddenly shut down due to the global pandemic. Like many small business owners at the time, he was forced to think outside the box.
Having grown up working for his father’s Chinese food distribution service and with his mother, a former restaurateur, Cheng was no stranger to the challenges of hospitality businesses. “While my father and many relatives had restaurant experience, I didn’t have a strong passion for Chinese food specifically,” Cheng explains. But he did have a built-in passion for solving problems and filling gaps in the market.
Aware of every aspect of the business, Cheng checks in on the back of the house at General Tso’s. (Photo credit: Tom Sanders)
As many restaurants were shuttering and with food delivery on the rise, Cheng noticed a shortage in Asian catered food offerings and saw an opportunity. He found a struggling Chinese restaurant and decided to lease it as a one-month trial. After making $30,000 in just 30 days, he had the proof he needed to go all in on General Tso’s.
High customer demand, however, brings challenges when you’re building from the ground up. “We experienced unexpected, unplanned growth and did our best to sustain operations using every available resource,” Cheng says. Although equipped with a business administration degree and his experience in food service, Cheng found that he lacked the tools to sustain and scale the business. A lack of structure for the catering business resulted in long working hours, along with a high rate of employee turnover. Meanwhile, digital ad costs and third-party delivery commissions were eating into his profits. “A lot of it was not working. We were spending 5% of our revenue [on ads], and the sales were not making up for it,” Cheng says. He knew he needed a change, so he put all marketing spend on pause and went back to the drawing board.
Cheng finds joy in helping out in the kitchen when he can. (Photo credit: Tom Sanders)
From trial and error to sustainable growth
Cheng discovered a community of Asian business leaders and was invited to attend a National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship event, where a speaker introduced him to the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready program. “That simple connection made such a big impact on my trajectory,” he said. After taking more than a dozen of the program’s free courses and learning pathways about digital marketing strategies, branding and operations, Cheng realized where his business was falling short, “We didn’t establish a strong brand identity or message that would help us stand out. We were just working harder, not smarter.”
As a result of his learnings from the Digital Ready program, Cheng pivoted his focus from short-term revenue gains to long-term strategic growth. He was inspired to make a few key changes that had domino effects, ultimately doubling his average daily revenue in just a few months.
Catering partnerships make up 70% of General Tso’s business. (Photo credit: Tom Sanders)
First, he upgraded his point of sale system to one that captures more customer data. “[Straight] sales numbers were not enabling us to make decisions. Now we have marketing, advertising and loyalty programs. We have new subscribers daily,” Cheng explains. Adding new digital strategies for automated promotions and new ways to convert customers drove a surge in repeat and online sales. “That’s the power of data-driven decisions,” Cheng says.
He also learned about the importance of good reviews to improve his website’s organic search ranking. That insight led Cheng to implement in-house delivery for greater quality control, customer feedback clarity and bonus direct growth from a widened delivery radius.
But it was Digital Ready’s introductory course on AI that Cheng says “impacted almost every level of the business.” He used AI tools to create training manuals for everyday operations, customer service and new hire onboarding that freed up 50% of his time and more than doubled employee retention. “We’re able to train and retain our employees at a higher rate because they actually know what they’re coming into – things you think they know, but do not know,” he explains.
Empowering the “NextGen” of cross-cultural entrepreneurs
Inspired in part by Digital Ready’s free program accessibility, Cheng wants to pay his learnings forward. He’s in the process of launching NextGen Impact, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing resources for small business owners who are non-native English speakers and who may experience cultural and language barriers.
Cheng invests in his staff, keeping mentorship and their development as high priorities. (Photo credit: Tom Sanders)
“Thousands of family-run Chinese restaurants struggle due to outdated marketing, inefficient operations, and lack of digital integration,” Cheng says, “Our mission is to revitalize these businesses, and build a system that empowers other restaurant owners, creates jobs and uplifts the community.” Knowing firsthand the unique challenges for cross-cultural entrepreneurs, Cheng hopes to connect them to resources like Digital Ready, which has language options and subtitles for its course catalog, to help them overcome communication hurdles like his own family faced as Chinese immigrants.
“It’s not all about the bottom line. I see growth as a way to serve more people and create new job opportunities.” Cheng wants to challenge perceptions of Chinese and ethnic cuisines and rebrand them with best-in-class service with modern technology, and integration with the local community.
Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is part of Verizon’s goal to support 1 million small businesses by 2030 with the free resources to help them succeed. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. To sign up for Digital Ready, visit digitalready.verizonwireless.com. An individual user's experience may vary and results are not guaranteed.
