The Thai Orchid

After 30 years in the business, Tina shares that there are several rules that she lives by. Despite her achievements, Tina says that she is rarely involved with the preparation of the food. “To tell you a secret, I cannot cook at all,” Tina said. “But I am a great manager, trainer, and organizer which I believe is the key to success here. It is my stepfather, my brother-in-law, and the chef we hired over the years that know the cooking side of things.” “It is important to know that you only have one chance to make a good impression and it must be the best. I want to make my customers feel welcome all the time. If they feel good, they will return,” she said. “Even if you are the owner of the business, you are there to provide service, and it must be the best one. You are the owner, but you there to also teach your staff that you are one of the staff.” From napkins on the table to the back kitchen, Tina strictly emphasized that no matter how small the restaurant is, everything in the restaurant must be of high standard, as the customer will feel it. Nodding her head in agreement, Mandy says that she has heard this personally several times over her own training. “I learn all the time from seeing what and how she does it from working with our team,” she said. “I work with her as a staff, and I also got told off by my mother. The key to a business owner is that you need to be able to do everything, from doing the dishes, cleaning toilet, vacuum and mop the floor, before you ask a staff to do it for you. My mother treats every staff like family member, that’s why everyone loves her and respect her.”