Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Robert Chan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Robert thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
This was relatively simple. We wanted to create a place where people from all walks of life could sit at a dinner table and create new relationships. When I was growing up, I remembered helping my family preparing dinners when my parents were at home. When having dinner, we would talk and discuss about everyone or things that had occurred. When I met my wife, she had also done similar dinners, thus we wanted a name that signifies “dinner at the table”.
We were from different countries ie, Malaysia and Spain, and we met at University of New Orleans, then moved to Houston, TX and now Corpus Christi, TX. During our stay in these places, we were expose to different cultures, so we wanted the company to include everyone, thus the name “global” came about.
Robert, 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?
I was born in Malacca, a city on the west coast of Malaysia. My culture is Peranakan, the descendant of Chinese immigrants that arrived to the Malay Peninsula a few centuries ago. This culture blended together not only the Chinese foods, but also the Malay, Indian, British, Japanese, Dutch and Portuguese (Eurasian) recipes. These multi-cultural influences created a unique way of cooking also known as Nyonya cuisine.
When I lived in Singapore for 9 years, I took on many inspirations from the Singaporean cuisine. Adding to that mixture of cultures, I moved to New Orleans in 1999 and then met my now wife, Sofia, who is from Spain. During my years in New Orleans, I was introduced to Cajun and Soul food. In 2005, I was force to relocate to Houston, TX after being hit by Hurricane Katrina. Living in Houston, TX for 15 years, I was able to further hone and expand on his recipes such as the famous Texas BBQ.
I am a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer by trade for many years and I am still involve in the industry. However, my real passion is culinary and food. I was always intrigue with different flavors and could be simply enhance with either simple ingredients or more elaborated spices and cooking techniques. This also included fermentation & aging, where my culture ferments and salting seafood as a form of aging and preserving till to this day. As a spin off from this fermentation, I took up homebrewing beer and tested many different styles where I became a beer judge and won several medals.
Equip with such knowledge, I wanted to share with the community that there are more to just fast food. I wanted to share and educate people about eating right that nourishes the body, mind and soul. I wanted to share and build unique dinner experiences among the community such as roasting whole lamb and pig, cooking paella over open fire and have private dinners where I introduce old dishes but using local ingredients from farmers and ranchers. In addition, I would explain the significance of sustainability with regards to the ingredients used.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I started this business in April 2019. It was growing well and gaining several events in the pipeline. However, due to the pandemic, everything had changed. In the early period of the pandemic, I had resorted to catering lunches but soon after it did not really make sense. In addition, my wife had a job in Corpus Christi and we decided to move. Since, I did not know anyone in this new city, I had to find ways of introducing the company in the area. However in the meantime, I had to earn some income where I did some vessel survey jobs. These jobs were financial life saving while I establish my business in Corpus Christi, TX.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think the most significant push that got me connected to the community was using my homebrewing skills with a local brewery. I had a small brewing system and did some small test batches for the brewery. The owners had also helped introduced me to many people. Till to this day, I’m still taking steps to get to know more people such as selling some products at the local farmers market and volunteer at local culinary events.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.globaldinnertable.com
- Instagram: uncleboberts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Global-Dinner-Table-2722564581093039
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-chan-6780192b/