Kiwi Spoon is All in the Family

Chung Lin came to the U.S. in 1980s with two suitcases and $25 in his pocket.

A decade later, he was a successful restaurant proprietor and in the position to help a lifelong friend, Li Zhong Zhuo, make his own name in the business.

So he did, taking his friend’s sons into his Tallmadge home and teaching them the business so that they could take their skills back to their father to open his own restaurant in Dayton, Ohio.

Now Zhou, who’s added another restaurant and three yogurt shops to his properties, is returning the favor.

Lin’s son Mao, guided by Zhuo, is using the name and concept of Zhuo’s Connecticut Kiwi Spoon yogurt shops as a springboard for his own shop, set to open on Coventry Road soon.

Mao Lin’s shop is his own — connected to the Connecticut shops in name only. But the families’ connection is much stronger.

Zhuo and Chung Lin grew up in the same tiny village in southeast China and have been close for as long as they can remember.

When Chung Lin was in his 20s, he had an opportunity for an American work visa and took it, moving to New York and working in a restaurant for a year before moving to Ohio.

Mao’s mother, his older sister and Zhuo followed Chung Lin to Ohio in 1992, and Mao followed about a year later.

The Lins grew up in their father’s China Buffets, of which he opened five over the course of his career. The Lins ended up in Tallmadge with three China Buffets in their name: one in Cuyahoga Falls, one in Stow and one in Springfield.

Now Chung Lin is 56 and has sold all of his restaurants, and Mao Lin, at 23, has taken the torch.

“I’ve seen how much they struggled just to put food on the table,” said Mao. “I should be doing something for them to let them enjoy the older years of their life.”

So Mao wants to open the shop as he finishes his last quarter of school at the University of Akron this spring.

Though he’s worked under the guidance of his father and Zhou, who he calls “uncle,” he noted that he’s added his own personality to the restaurant.

He said he will ask Facebook followers to vote for the shop's next flavor.

He’ll have wi-fi and mobile device chargers scattered around his shop, and he will allow customers to choose the music using Spotify and an iPad mounted near the front door.

He wants customers to feel a personal connection with him — after all, this is a family business.

Kiwi Spoon is set to open very soon. Watch Cleveland Heights Patch for information when a date is set.