Regional Business Roundup: Cheng Du and the American Dream, Jake and Joe's Set to Open and More

Mansfield

Cheng Du a Family Run Restaurant for Over 30 Years in Mansfield

Summary: Sonny Tang and his family have been in Mansfield at Cheng Du for over 30 years. He said his family emigrated from Taiwan in the late 70s and worked to open their own business, right in Mansfield.

“My mom and dad emigrated from Taiwan, and rather than work for other companies, they felt it was just a smarter way of bringing the family together,” Tang said. “First my parents came here, and then the whole family immigrated. We had enough people to actually get the business moving.”

Tang said he originally started working at the restaurant with his parents when he was 12 years old.

“It was kind of a school of hard knocks,” he said. “You were just thrown in the kitchen, starting with dishes, moving on to food preparation, working with the knife, to a busboy, a waiter, you were able to learn and obtain every aspect of the job. There was no Johnson and Wales background.”

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Wrentham

Wrentham's South Liquors Expands Beyond Local Liquor Store

Owner and operator of South Liquors Jason Lee has been serving the Wrentham and Plainville area for over a decade, but before that he worked for IBM.

“My parents bought the property and the liquor store with no experience,” he said. “When they asked me to help sell the business and the property, I looked at it from an outside consultant’s perspective and I was thinking to myself ‘how could this business not be making money?’”

Lee said the key to his success was not to run the store as a conventional store. He said the buying power of big box stores like BJs, Wal Mart and Liquor World really puts small businesses at a disadvantage, as the more boxes you can buy, the lower the price can be.

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Jake n JOES to Open Foxborough Location on March 26

Summary:

It may have took longer than many expected but Jake n JOES Sports Grille is finally set to open its doors in Foxborough.

Amy S. Riordan, director of sales & marketing for Chateau Restaurants, told Foxborough Patch Thursday morning the sports grille will open for dinner only on Tuesday, March 26 at 4:30 p.m. before expanding its service to lunch (11 a.m. opening) and dinner on Tuesday, April 2.

“We like a soft opening so that we may work the kinks out,” Riordan said in an earlier interview.

The sports grille had targeted opening by the end of January but renovations moved that date into February. However, significant changes to the floor plan that was submitted with the restaurant’s liquor license and permits forced Jake n JOES to further delay its opening while ownership got the paperwork in order with both the town and state.

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Easton

Dance Express Incorporating More than 30 Years of Experience

Summary:

Ann-Maries Basara started dancing when she was five years old, and has turned her passion into a long career at the Dance Express.

She said growing up she wasn’t always the most outgoing person.

“I was actually a shy girl, but when I was on stage I was a completely different person,” she said. "I just loved performing.”

Basara said she originally wanted to go into stage performance and make a career on Broadway.

“I originally felt an obligation to come back and teach once I went to school,” she said. “Once I realized how tough it is, I knew that teaching was my best way to go.”

Norton

Headline (hyperlinked):

Personal Best Karate in Norton Kicking Away for Over 20 Years

Christopher Rappold started studying martial arts when he was 13, but he always loved watching Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee on the screen kicking and spinning away.

Rappold started Personal Best Karate over 20 years ago. He said when he was 13 a friend brought him to a martial arts class and he’s been going ever since.

Personal Best now has five locations, and while Rappold attributes much of his success to his hard approach, he said there were some factors of the time that you might not expect.

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Attleboro

Becker Guitars Carves New Designs in Attleboro

Summary: Daniel Becker, owner of Becker Guitars, has been working on guitars for more than 15 years, and now he says he's making his own line of guitars.

"These guitars just have more soul I think," he said.

Becker said started with a repair shop from his basement, and in the mid 1990s opened his own shop.

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Seekonk-Swansea

Tony’s Seafood a True Local Favorite

Summary: The Pirri family has been selling seafood, in one form or another, for four generations, and now sells it right from the boat at Tony’s Seafood in Seekonk.

“My grandfather started the company in his garage in Bristol, going house to house,” said current owner Anthony Pirri. “It was common at the time, like the milkman who would come to your house.”

The Pirri family has been at their current location for more than 35 years. Pirri said he sells wholesale right off the boats to many seafood restaurants in the area.

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