Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirk Bui.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kirk. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My family were overjoyed with the news of going to America. Upon arrival, joy quickly turned to anguish. We realized there were hurdles to overcome. The most glaring was speaking and learning English. With no language skill, my parents had to take menial jobs wherever they can. They worked odd jobs such as dish washer and kitchen help and saved. Knowing English would continue to be a hindrance for advancement, they decided to start a small restaurant in Tribeca in New York City in 1997. Seeing how hard they worked, in late 1998, my brother decided to leave academia behind and joined as a kitchen help where he quickly rose to become the head chef within 3 months and has been producing amazing dishes ever since.
As my parents got older and wanted to live in a warmer climate. We embarked on a search for a suitable place to take root. It came down to Atlanta and Dallas. Atlanta was too congested thus here we are.
We sold our homes, business, and moved to Dallas to embark on the next chapter of our lives.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
In 2006, we took over a place where August Moon had occupied for many years. We started out as a dine in restaurant on weekdays and catered to weddings on weekends. When we began to book more weekend weddings, we couldn’t accommodate our dine in only clientele. On weekends when we didn’t have an event, customers didn’t come. Slowly, we were losing our customers. So we made an executive decision to change the business model to remodel and convert to event catering. We focused all our energy into growing our event business. Today, we’re extremely grateful that our business is doing well.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Zander’s House story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a full-service event venue catering to weddings, birthdays, corporate events, anniversaries, bar Mitzvahs, baby showers, etc. We feature outstanding Southeast Asian cuisines with a focus in Vietnamese cuisine. In addition to on-site catering, we also offer off-site catering as well. Here are some of our specialties: grilled rib-eye cilantro beef, Vietnamese style beef carpaccio, Thai-style beef salad, Peking duck, Fried Chilean seabass with chili chive sauce, tamarind lobster, mixed seafood salad and spicy seasoned baby clams with rice.
We are passionate about our cooking and we continue to strive to deliver a unique dining experience.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We were in the process of setting up a new Vietnamese restaurant other than your typical Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) joint. A devastating family event occurred. We discovered that our father was diagnose with terminal brain cancer. We had to rearrange our priorities to care for him and to spend the remaining time creating memories. We have little time to do anything else thus the plan has to be tabled.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2300 N Central Expressway, Plano TX 75074
- Website: www.zandershouse.com
- Phone: 972-943-9199
- Email: kirkbui@gmail.com
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