Sam Wo, a popular and iconic restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown that’s loved by tourists and locals alike may close by the end of the year.
Chef and owner David Jitong Ho announced his plans to retire after 42 years of work last September. Ho and Sam Wo’s co-owner, Steven Lee, have been searching for potential buyers, but leads have been slow.
“We’ve always known that this day would come,” said Lee in an interview with SFGATE. “Mr. Ho wanted to keep going, and even when we tried to get him to retire, he wouldn’t leave. He just loves the place. But now he’s ready to go. His body can’t handle it.”.
“It’s not that the landlords won’t renew for us, it’s just that we don’t feel comfortable without a really good operator to keep Sam Wo going that we can not sign the lease.”, Lee further explained in an NBC Bay Area interview. “We are looking for somebody to take over for Mr. Ho’s family and be our partners in this community venture. Or we’ll sell the restaurant. We do have a national broker that’s going to be soliciting Sam Wo across the country.”.
According to a San Francisco Standard interview, multiple parties have contacted Sam Wo for purchase, but “none have been the right fit to continue the Sam Wo legacy of serving affordable, comforting cuisine in the country’s oldest Chinatown.”.
Sam Wo is currently priced at $381,895 and is described as “A rare and special opportunity” to “seize a historic full-service restaurant in the heart of Chinatown with world recognition and constant media attention.”
Lee told SFGATE that interested buyers would be trained by Ho himself to replicate Sam Wo’s signature dishes to uphold the restaurant’s classic menu. However, there can be new menu additions per the potential buyer’s choice.
Sam Wo was founded in 1908 and has remained a staple of San Francisco’s Chinatown ever since. Some of Sam Wo’s previous customers include Ken Jeong, Conan O’Brien, and Martin Yan. The restaurant was also previously employed by the late Edsel Ford Fung, known as the “the world’s rudest waiter.”
Ho’s son Jason, and his sister, will not taking over the family business. Jason told NBC Bay Area that his father doesn’t want them to take his mantle, saying “It’s really hard work. He’s here almost like, every day, working, like, ten plus hours, you know? And he doesn’t want that for us. You know, he wants us to go out in find our own passions our own careers.”.
Sam Wo previously closed down in 2012, at its previous address at 813 Washington St, when Ho was unable to modernize the building to meet health and safety standards. Ho partnered with Lee in 2015, and Sam Wo reopened at its current location at 713 Clay St.
In the event that Sam Wo closes, Lee plans on keeping the name alive by remodeling the brand as packaged food line.
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