This is the first of a new series celebrating student success, highlighting former students who go on to great things after DALC.
Jingying “Joey” Lin came to the Unites States at the age of 21. Nearly 20 years later, she is a citizen, has earned her high school credential, learned how to drive, worked as an LNA for 8 years and has now launched not one, but two successful restaurants.
When Lin and her friends found themselves out of work due to the pandemic, they decided that Dover needed a Chinese restaurant with authentic cuisine.
As her teacher, friend and mentor, Bill Badgley, says, being an immigrant is hard and to be really successful requires a lot of hard work. “She is successful because she works really hard and works with the community.”
Badgley says immigrants often are not aware of traditional financial systems, such as stocks, mutual funds, 401k’s. It is not unusual for them to rely on family. Lin found some family and friends to invest and was immediately successful, despite opening the Hong Asian Noodle Bar during the pandemic. “We were profitable after 18 months and were able to repay all the startup money,” says Lin.
On the opening day, no one came in. Lin admits she had done very little promotion. “I reached out to all my friends, from church, from nursing school and boom, we were suddenly so busy.”
By the second day they were so slammed, they had to close and hire 15 more people. She has 35 employees in Dover and six in Rochester location, which opened in March. She also shares employees between the locations.
Lin and her partners Tin Zhang and Vivian Lin had all worked as servers but never in the kitchen. They hired people with those skills but still needed to know how to do it all. “I had to learn all the skills, so the workers would respect me,” she says. “I practiced a lot.”
It was important that the food be authentic Asian cuisine. She says the popular General Tso’s chicken it not a traditional Chinese recipe. “Real Asian cuisine was fun to eat as kid,” she says. “All kids love noodles and bao (steamed buns).”
The menu is intentionally simple with only 24 items. Despite the rising cost of wholesale food such as chicken and eggs, they try to keep the prices affordable. Lin says lower prices will attract more customers, who will be able to try more dishes and develop lots of favorites.
Like many students at DALC, Lin’s path was not a straight shot. Life often gets in the way of an adult education journey. But she persisted.
Working as a nursing assistant for 8 years helped her adapt to American culture. “I’m surprised that I don’t know everything,” says Lin. “Even as an adult there is still so much more to explore and learn.”
She says her time at DALC represents an important milestone and once the second restaurant is stable, she wants to return to school to study accounting and business management.
While Badgley credits Lin’s success to her “boundless energy, optimism and can-do attitude,” Lin gives a lot of credit to Badgley and DALC for giving her the skills she needs.
The Dover location at 519 Central Avenue seats about 46 people with parking in front. Tables can fill up fast during the lunch hour with a steady stream of takeout orders. The Rochester location, at 50 North Main Street seats 58.
While about a third of her customers are Asian, from countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, the other two-thirds are local. And it’s not just locals who are noticing.
In 2024, Hong Asian Noodle Bar was featured on Samantha Brown’s ‘Places to Love’! pbs.org/video/new-hampshires-coast-and-more-mclBfw/
hongasiannoodlebar.com