Anna Peng initially worked two-hour shifts at her parents’ quick-food restaurant even as still in school – and she disliked it. Now, at 28 and with a degree in industrial design, she puts in over 13 hours a day at the same location.
Peng manages everything from cooking to customer service and finances, and has simultaneously propelled the eatery, Great Fountain Fast Food, to viral fame. She shares the daily joys and frustrations of running a family business with nearly 40,000 followers on Instagram and through regular posts on TikTok. This blend of personal storytelling and behind-the-scenes access is resonating with a growing online audience interested in the realities of small business ownership.
Necessity Drives Independence
“My mother can be quite perfectionistic,” Peng told the South China Morning Post. This was a key reason she didn’t enjoy working at the restaurant initially. “Also, my Chinese wasn’t very good, so I felt quite uncomfortable among all the Chinese-speaking customers.”
Her parents initially took over Great Fountain Fast Food more than a decade ago, having emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada in the late 1980s. They began their careers working in garment factories before being laid off in 2008, leading them to enter the food service industry with a fish and chips stand. In 2015, they purchased the current snack bar location in a Scarborough, Toronto shopping center.
Strengthened Family Bonds
When Anna Peng dedicated herself to the family business after graduating, the coronavirus pandemic began. This prompted her to leverage TikTok and Instagram to promote the restaurant, focusing on the unique Sino-Canadian culture it represented. This strategy helped establish Great Fountain as a central hub for the Hong Kong diaspora in Toronto. The use of social media to build community around a local eatery demonstrates the power of digital marketing for small businesses.
Through interactions with customers and collaboration with her parents, Peng is learning more about her heritage. Simultaneously, her relationship with her mother has significantly improved. “I understand my mother’s way of working better now,” she explained, adding that she has also improved her Mandarin and Cantonese skills – the two primary dialects of China.
