Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sandy Tobin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sandy, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission has been “from our family to yours.” My father started his career as a dishwasher for Panda Inn in Horton Plaza. He moved up to be their executive chef and helped to pave the way for panda express. But he quickly saw that he as a single father could never afford to take his family there for dinner. So when he left his 15 year tenure to venture out on his own he wanted to bring those same great recipes to the masses. He bought Minh Ky and was able to provide inexpensive but handmade quality meals for a reasonable price. But Minh Ky has a small foot print and a very set menu revolving around wonton noodle soups. When the opportunity to add Dumpling Inn to our portfolio my dad saw a way to truly fufill his dream on a larger scale. He presented me and my sister the opportunity to help him accomplish his dream. Dumpling Inn is such a amazing space. We have witnessed first dates, to weddings and the birth of the next generation. From casual drinks with co workers to more formal family meetings for the first time. Our customers are a melting pot of all walks of life just like San Diego. We have menu items to suit all pallets from the traditional to the more conventional. These 4 walls are our home and our team is our family. So we welcome you to our home and enjoy recipes “from our family to yours.”

Sandy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Sandy Vuong Tobin eldest daughter to Phat Kim Vuong a Chinese Vietnamese immigrant that forged a career as a restaurateur. I got into the industry to help my father achieve his goal and to create something magical with my family. Here at Dumpling Inn we serve our family recipes in a fun, casual and inviting environment. We handmake dumplings a traditional Chinese dish that represents wealth and prosperity along side more main stream items like Orange chicken where we use 1 fresh squeezed orange in each order. We are most proud of the environment we have created for our guests. A environment that is cross generational and for all taste buds.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses

We bought Dumpling Inn 2016. We were actually approached directly by the selling agent and asked to purchase the business. It was a smooth transaction that was made more enjoyable due to the fact that the seller Mark Sun was very willing to share what his vision for Dumpling Inn was and his ideologies matched that of my families. Dumpling Inn has given us the platform to share our culture and family recipes with so many others. The most difficult part was the red tape we had to jump through to acquiring all the different permits.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

From a restaurateur perspective there is not greater story of resilience than the journey we all took through COVID. From full closures, to semi reopening to outdoor only, the yo yo of regulation that we all had to abide by. But the hardest part was having to be the enforcers of these rules. We are in a industry that prides ourselves customer service and being kind but having to be put in a place of having to enforce regulations or risk fines and even shut down was difficult to deal with. Seeing our team members having to get creative to make ends meet while we were shut down was truly difficult. Thankfully we were able to transition quickly to doing heavy to go business and eventually quickly to outdoor dinning. Though many of the regulations have been dropped we now are dealing with the aftermath that not many would have anticipated. We are still dealing with a lack of people returning to the work force. We are happy that we were able to retain 95% of our team but for over a year have been struggling to find just a few more team members. This has resulted in us having to limit our hours resulting in less hours for our team and less revenue. But we are proud that we are still here with open doors and fighting through. So many have had to close their doors as a result of COVID related complications. We are simply thankful for our understanding guests and loyal team.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @Dumplinginn_SD
• Facebook: @Dumplinginnxlb