SPOKANE, Wash. – Mr. Wok in northern Spokane has been serving guests since 1991, but said it has been more than a decade since they have had an employee from outside the family work for the business.
New owner Warren Chan took over the restaurant in January after his father had run Mr. Wok for 32 years.
Chan’s mother, Melissa Chan, said it has been quite some time since she has seen someone other than family work at the restaurant.
“We haven’t had an employee besides the family in probably 12 years, otherwise it’s just been our children that help out. My oldest daughter, Warren,” Chan said.
The business is currently take-out only and open from Wednesday to Saturday because of staff shortages, but Chan shops and preps the other three days of the week leading to virtually no time off.
“Shopping on Sunday making sure we have everything for the restaurant. Monday I’m coming in and we’re prepping pretty much the vegetables, and all my stuff for deep fry, and deep fry on Tuesday and that’s served throughout the week,” Chan said.
Chan is not alone, Gallup marketing research says that nearly 40% of small business owners report spending more than 60 hours a week at work.
“It’s been really tough, because it’s just back of house prep help that we need, and for everybody it’s hard to find help,” Chan said.
Chan has plans to reopen the dining area that has been closed since 2020, as well as expand the menu, and more help would allow him to do that.
“The more help, I mean we could be open seven days a week, we could open up a little bit more, bring more people in here, that’s the whole picture that I’m seeing,” Chan said.
Anyone interested in applying can do so online, or bring a resume to the store during business hours.
