Business Profile of Lan’s New Asian Grill
By Read Fenton - Communications Director
My Name is Read Fenton the new Communications Director at the Alberta Avenue Business Association and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tom the owner of Lan’s Asian Grill for a chat about the history and values of his family run business. I came back later with my fiancée and I sat down and had a delicious meal and can attest to the delicious food myself. Those gyoza (asian dumplings) are the best I’ve had in Edmonton.
What is the history of the business?
It was founded in 2008 by Tom and his sister Monica who were inspired by their mother Lan and built on the inspiration from his grandmother and great grandmother’s cooking. Lan had always really wanted to open a restaurant but because of children and very little english skills they did not. The family was always blessed with great food. She would work 8-12 hours then come home and cook for 4 hours because she loved it and had a passion for cooking. Everyone in the Family is involved, Monica is the head chef and his mother is the master chef and they create the menu. Tom’s father Sunny, brother Vinse and himself are big parts of the business.
What are the values of the business?
Tom said “It’s always about standards and quality of the ingredients we use. Those are the biggest value especially when it comes to food the best way to ruin your recipes is to use bad quality. So when you use great quality it speaks for itself. All you need to do is cook it well.”-Tom owner of Lan’s Asian Grill
What do you look for in new hires?
For service it’s all about personality, skill can be gained but good character and personality are hard to come by. When Tom does interviews they are sometimes unconventional to see how they interact and carry themselves and find out if they have a drive to better themselves. Emotional intelligence is very important to hiring his service staff. How do we make sure they can read people and give them great service.
What is Lan’s known for?
Lan’s would like to be known for quality first when you step in you might not like a certain dish because you are not culturally familiar with the cuisine but, you can taste that it is great ingredients and you will want to keep trying new things. When you can tell there is quality there you will always come back. Tom said that he also hopes that his service is something that people notice and appreciate as well.
How do you describe the business?
Southeast Asian, Fresh, healthy, no additives or preservatives, made from scratch. We really believe that made from scratch is the best way and it allows us to make food allergen free. Lan’s has gluten free, vegan, vegetarian options even with the drinks they try to consider celiacs and have rice vodkas that are gluten free as well.
I quite enjoyed my meal at Lan’s Asian Grill and I recommend you stop in.
|
Key stakeholders from the recently formed Alberta Avenue District Council met on January 23rd with the Edmonton Police Service, represented by Inspector Dave Christoffel, Staff Sgt. Andres Hoglund and new Sgt. Katie Davies for our area.
I got to sit down and Interview Dr. Jalal Abouhassan, a General Dentist, from Norwood Dental Associates last weekend. He is a University of Alberta graduate who went on to receive his Dental Medicine Degree from Midwestern University in Chicago. Dr. Abouhassan started working part-time at Norwood Dental Associates in November and when he saw the hard work from the team and great commitment to the patients from everyone in the clinic, agreed to come on full time. Dr. Abouhassan sees joining the practice as a great opportunity especially with the Avenue remodeling and seeing how the community is really coming together and making all the small changes that are improving the neighbourhood.
(The Evolution of Black History Month Celebrations in Edmonton was written and provided to the Alberta Avenue Business Association by Diversity Magazine)
