I Quit Investment Banking to Sell Dumplings—Now I Turn Over $4.5M

In college, I found myself craving dumplings, a food that was not readily available. Growing up, we would visit my grandmother's house and make dumplings from scratch. We would pan-sear, boil, and freeze the rest, enjoying them as a big group family meal.

While studying at Babson College I learned that you could start a business by identifying a need or necessity that is not being fulfilled. I told my father that I believed Americans should one day be able to eat dumplings the way we, the Chinese, do.

As an American-born Chinese, I saw a clear need for dumplings to be more accessible.

My mind was on food very early on in college because I grew up in the restaurant business. My parents had upscale restaurants—I saw them pursue their passion from a young age.

In 2004, I worked as an analyst in investment banking, earning $55,000 a year with a bonus. But during this time, I researched and cooked food every day.

I did a lot of self-discovery through learning and educating myself as I researched, cooked, and tried as many different things as possible. This enabled me to have a better idea of what was going on in the food world, what people liked, and what was missing.

To learn the business, I stepped out of finance and worked for my mom at her very successful restaurant in 2008. I wanted to see how a successful restaurant was run.

My mom had 35 years of experience. My mother was not a restaurant chef, she was a home chef. My father had a very good palate and knew how to critique food. My mom's food was my dad's favorite home cooking.

Through being raised by them, I became sort of like both of them. I knew how to critique food, taste food, and know what makes a good Chinese dish. I also learned how to cook from my mom. I learned from and was inspired by my mother.

When I got married in 2010, I moved back to my hometown of Boston. Because my parents had a legacy in Boston, I felt even more pressure to celebrate this legacy. My husband said he wouldn't give me any pressure to work, but he knew I was the type to want to do something, so he supported whatever I wanted to do.

I followed my other passion, which was fashion. Because I loved being around fashion and clothes, I worked part-time at Saks Fifth Avenue in Boston, selling clothes. I worked 21 hours a week and made about $600.

During that time, I started writing a business plan for Dumpling Daughter, my own venture. I was determined to make dumplings accessible to more people, and this was my first step towards achieving that dream.

The business plan and the idea took three years to form. On the days that I had off, I would go observe quick-service restaurants in the Boston area. I would sit in restaurants for three hours and watch consumer behavior and count customers because I was looking for the perfect location to start Dumpling Daughter. I was scoping out different neighborhoods and writing my business plan in different restaurants.

In 2014, I opened my first restaurant in Weston. My father had once told me about his dream of opening a small Chinese restaurant in Weston and he had approached a landlord about restaurant space in the center.

When I was looking for a location for my restaurant, a space right next door to the one my father had dreamed of became available. I talked to the same landlord my father had spoken to about 30 years before.

The landlord gave me the opportunity to open my restaurant. I signed the lease and within three months, which is a very quick turnaround, we opened the restaurant.

The process was not easy. My mother was my number one supporter, advisor, and rock. I asked her every question I could think of. I took my own experience into account and what was needed.

She told me to sign the lease, write the menu, design the place, and get everything set up. She then came in and executed her recipes. She taught and wrote down all the recipes for Dumpling Daughter. Then, I hired people to execute those recipes.

I make it sound like it's really simple, and the actions and steps are in fact simple, but it was very emotional and draining. When you open the doors, your name is on the business. You're greeting people and opening yourself up for feedback and critique, both negative and positive.

At the beginning, you care so much about what you're doing that it is emotionally heavy. You know that the odds are against you—most restaurants fail. But I was fighting the odds.

I wanted to prove that this would work and I wanted to pay back my father-in-law and uncle, who gave me a loan of $130,000. I wanted to make the people who entrusted me with their loans proud. I wanted to make my mom proud.

It was very personal. When there were 30 people in line to order and our staff was new to the processes, it was a struggle to get the food out quickly. I would go home and cry about how much pressure I felt. Looking back, it was a good problem to have.

My mom would say: "Why are you crying? You should cry if there are no customers. You have people that want to eat here. You have people that want to work here. Only you feel that emotional weight. All the other employees here, this is a job for them. You're paying them. They're not feeling emotional. Just tell them what to do. Why are you crying? You're crying because you have a business. Stop crying. You asked for this."

I would suck it up and continue. I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted people to spend money and feel that they got something of value. I didn't take one day off for an entire year. I lost 15 pounds because of stress. It was like an out-of-body experience. I always knew that if I did this, I would put my all into it.

Amazingly, within the first eight months of starting the restaurant, I was able to pay my uncle and father-in-law back for their loans. After the first year, I made back my investment and was able to pay myself an annual salary which I considered to be very successful.

In 2022, my company made sales of $4.5 million. This experience made me realize that pursuing my passion could also lead to financial success. My goal is to share as many dumplings as possible, making people happy one dumpling at a time!

Nadia Liu Spellman is an entrepreneur. Nadia was inspired to launch Dumpling Daughter in 2014. As an ode and respect to what her parents started, today, she showcases her childhood favorites and family's home recipes through multiple restaurants in the Boston area and frozen foods and sauce. Dumpling Daughter frozen foods and Signature Spicy Sweet Soy sauce are now in over 1,000 markets and available nationwide on Amazon Prime and dumplingdaughter.com.

All views expressed in this article are the author's own.

As told to Newsweek's associate editor, Carine Harb

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