Starting a new life in Canada can be a challenge, even if you have the education, knowledge and credentials to start a new career.
For Ahyoung Baek, Pasta Polo and Brick Oven Restaurant in Coquitlam was a lifeline.
The Port Coquitlam mother of two said owner Fred Soofi looked past her "broken English" and recognized a person with skills and talent.
He hired her to be a server in the bustling Italian eatery at 2754 Barnet Hwy. and she quickly learned the ropes.
Now Baek and her husband, Jeremy Pak, are the proud owners of the business, which offers an extensive menu of Italian cuisine, brick oven pizza, desserts and more — all hand-made in the restaurant.
The couple is originally from Korea but had moved to Melbourne, Australia, where Baek was studying hospitality management.
She decided to stick to Italian cuisine after working in restaurants in Melbourne and Edmonton.
Soofi is happy to step fully into retirement — where he remains involved in several volunteer boards on a range of issues — and says other restaurant owners interested in retiring should follow his example.
Plan for new ownership
"It's better to sell to someone you know than a stranger," he told the Tri-City News.
Baek has been working at the restaurant for nine years, and her husband for five years, while they share parenting duties of two children, aged 9 and 13.
What came as a bit of a surprise to the couple is that Soofi asked Baek if she wanted to purchase the restaurant, and he worked out a deal to make it happen.
"I told him I didn't have any money," she said.
After settling on a price, Soofi suggested a plan that resulted in the couple buying the business over a period of about five years.
Initially, he provided Baek with an interest-free loan to cover 25 per cent of the purchase price and, with profits from her share, she was able to eventually pay him back.
She increased her ownership until finally, her husband came up with the remaining 25 per cent on Sept. 1, the date of the official hand-over.
Now 73 years old, Soofi remembers how the deal first went down.
"I asked staff if they would like to be involved," he said. However, only Baek, who had been working as a server, was willing to make a go of it.
"I knew she had lots of ability," he recalled.
Working as a dishwasher
Still, there were challenges.
Baek recalls working like crazy on the business, especially during COVID-19, when the company established a take-and-bake menu to keep the business going.
Her husband also suffered some health issues that had to be addressed and Baek said she lost some of her life balance.
At the core, Baek said, she wanted to earn the respect of the other staff, many of them long-time employees, and so she started from the bottom again.
In fact, she worked in the dish-washing pit as she got to know the kitchen and how it operated.
"If it was dirty, it had to be me that cleaned it," she now jokes.
The effort paid off and Pasta Polo has retained many of its long-serving staff, said Baek.
As well, the restaurant continues Soofi's tradition of contributing to the community via fundraisers and by featuring local artists who can then sell their work.
Yet while Baek is experienced in all facets of the business, she understands that she still has to convince the community that Pasta Polo will still be as good under new management.
You can only do that by making good food, Baek says, including home-made bread, pasta and desserts. It's what she sees as Pasta Polo's competitive edge against larger chains.
"We have to focus on the food," she said, "That's fundamental."
