We haven't done a pop-up in over a year. Our 2 year stint in Union Square was awesome because we had our own home base, rare for a pop-up. We operated as a stand alone brick and mortar, trying different things. One thing we didn't expect was once you established a location, people start coming. Not rocket science, we know. Opening 4-5 days a week, closing in time for the primary business to open, planning other pop-ups and events, all while have maybe 2 people on staff was... a challenge. We did the best we can but there were limitations. 

Stay in Union Square? Take the road again and just do pop-ups? Go 100% all in on finding a new space. We obviously chose the latter. We gathered enough proof of concept, even got a few "Best of Boston" and other articles that helped us shine. We were confident in finding a new spot but were naive in the process. 

I can't remember how many spaces I've checked out but it's a ton. Playing tag with realtors lasted weeks, sometimes months for some reason. When we finally got the ok to visit the space, it opened up to so many other questions and what-ifs.

Most landlords wanted the top dollar for an empty shell, no build out help, 3 months of rent and we're talking about shit buckets. So that's $30k just to secure a spot. I remember one place was on Charles Street and rent was close to $15k/month AND they removed the kitchen. For what we want to do, we'd be out of business by end of the year.

Some promising landlords had the infrastructure ready for us to go but communication was not ideal. One landlord had a new kitchen, new everything ready for someone to take over. She was older and her partner dropped out and said she just wanted to recoup the money she lost while make a little of money.  Well after going back and forth for a few weeks, visiting Cambridge City Hall for permitting and licenses transfers, our last talk was completely opposite to what we originally discussed. She now wanted someone to cook Chinese food, and manager her restaurant while she occasionally bartends for friends and family. Essentially she wanted to be the cool restaurant owner without the stress of actually running it. Time wasted, for sure. 

If you follow us on Instagram, we were ready on a Chinatown location. This was it, the quintessential location for Asian businesses. The area held a special place for me specifically as that was the place for grocery shopping, catering and the best Asian food I've ever heard in the early 90's/00's.  We were on the same page as the landlord who also owned a few restaurants in the area. Once again, we went to the process of permitting, licensing and everything in between to get this happening before Fall of 2025. Then all of a sudden, ghosted for months. No texts backs, even visited the restaurants they owned for a chance to bump into them, NOTHING. Fuck. Thankfully we didn't sink any money into the space yet, I didn't file anything with the city of Boston, and I didn't make any promises to vendors or staff. Just a bruised ego, the show goes on. 

The timeline now shifts to late 2025, early 2026. 300 Summer Street responds back and the juices started flowing. We finally found spot, for real this time. 

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