The Hard Road to Running My Own Café

Cheng is twenty-two and has opened a café. It sits right beside her parents' family eatery, divided by nothing but a glass door. Every day, she hurries back and forth between the two shops. Soup bubbles on one side, while another delivery order pings on the other. Prep work, stir-frying, making soup, grinding coffee beans—she handles it all by herself. She can't find staff, and she can't afford any either. The café has twelve chairs, all spotless. Not because she's cleaned them, but because nobody has ever sat in them. She's tried marketing and new ideas. The subsidy never arrived, and she couldn't get a loan. The nearby cafés have closed one after another. Even the chains couldn't survive. She's in debt, and so are her parents. But none of them ever brings it up in front of the others. After closing, Mom pushes open the glass door and brings over a bowl of soup. She calls it "leftovers." Cheng knows it's not. She doesn't know how much longer she can hold on. But tomorrow morning, she'll still switch on the espresso machine. Then she'll push open the glass door, cross to the other side, and start the prep work. (The author hopes to show that starting a business is truly hard and that people should think carefully before diving in. Sometimes, though, it's fate. Living through it can help you grow, but you shouldn't give up too easily.)