Owner says rumors restaurant is closing are totally untrue
Rumors can be deadly the saying goes. Well, for a local Brookhaven restaurant, they can also be costly.
One of the latest rumors going around town, from a select number of former customers, seems to suggest that Golden China, the Chinese restaurant at 637 West Congress St. in Brookhaven, has shut down.
Yet nothing could be further from the truth, says longtime owner Ken Chow.
“We are still open. We want everyone to know,” Chow says.
Because of the rumor, Chow says he has lost a good deal of business, business he has come to rely upon for the last 23 years.
It is quite probably that the rumor could be the result of confusion, Chow suggests. The longtime owner did decide to retire this year. However, Golden China will remain open, only under new management, Chow said.
Eddie Goodwin has worked at Golden China for 18 years. He said he was alarmed to see Facebook posts that suggested the restaurant was shutting down.
Goodwin suspects what Chow does, that the community heard of Chow’s retirement and assumed the restaurant was kaput.
The restaurant will remain a family business, said Chow. Chow’s niece Vicky Zheng, and nephew, Michael Chen, will co-manage the restaurant upon the former owner’s retirement.
Chow makes it clear that he will still be playing a supervisory role at the restaurant.
“I will still be coming in to look over things, though,” he said.
Chow says that two weeks ago business was good, but that it had slowed down last week. Chow contemplates that this could be because of the Ole Brook festival, but believes the rumors of the restaurant’s close played a part.
Chow promises the restaurant will continue to serve the area’s best sesame chicken, crab legs and shrimp with onions, among other items.
According to Goodwin, part of the success of Golden China all these years, is due in part to Chow’s ability to remember customers’ names. “He has a great relationship with his customers. He wants all of them to come back in,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin and Chow first became aware of the rumors last week, and felt compelled to do whatever is necessary to dispel them.
In addition to watching over Golden China, Chow has other plans during retirement.
“I have business in California to look after. I also have much of my family out there so I’ll be traveling back and forth,” Chow said.