New Far East restaurant closes its doors
Nov. 3—After 16 years in business, the New Far East restaurant in Medford has succumbed to familiar post-pandemic pressures: instability in staffing and supplies.
"The reality is I have no workforce," said May Wu, co-owner of the family restaurant. "What can you do? I have no choice. We have to close."
New Far East officially closed its doors Wednesday. Wu said she wanted to thank her customers for their many years of support, and she wanted to ensure no one came to the restaurant on North Front Street only to be disappointed.
After two years of fighting against rising prices and either hard-to-find or fickle employees, Wu said she finally found herself forced to accept defeat. All the restaurant's remaining employees were out on health-related concerns at once. She wanted to close before people began making holiday dinner plans.
Operating the business at the standard to which Wu and her co-owner and sister, Nancy Ng, aspire requires eight employees. For months, she said, they have been fighting through each day with closer to four or five, with Wu herself often flitting between every position in the restaurant.
"I feel like an auctioneer," she said. "Sometimes I'm hostess. I answer the phones, waitress, kitchen prep ... everything."
Customer care matters, she said. The owners love their guests, and she and her sister felt brokenhearted to see reviews of the restaurant over the past year complaining of cold food or slow service.
Costs for basic supplies such as sugar, flour and oil also have gone up dramatically, she said. Two years ago, boneless skinless chicken breast was $2. Then it was $3.50. Now producers want $4 a pound.
"I could go to Safeway and pay less than that, but they can't supply me the amount I need," Wu said.
The restaurant's building also is old, she said, and maintenance workers have claimed an inability to locate parts for things like the aging air conditioner while quoting multiple thousands of dollars for repair costs.
For all New Far East's woes, Wu said she regrets the decline in customer service the most, but with limited staff, they can't operate at the level of service she felt her guests deserved.
"Nobody wants to work for minimum wage," she said.
Those responding to the restaurant's pleas for employees ask for $1,000 or more in pay per week, she said, with additional overtime pay, sick pay, holiday, vacation time and other benefits.
"Maybe a big business can afford to do this, but us mom-and-pops, if we do this, what would we charge the public?" she said.
Those who have been willing to work for minimum wage have proved unreliable and showed signs of personal issues they wanted to hide from their employer, she explained. Many have repeatedly missed work without calling, forcing Wu and her family to try to pick up the slack and leaving customers waiting.
"I want to thank my customers for their years of support, and our employees who have also supported us through the years," she said.
Wu said she wanted to close temporarily, but her siblings urged her to face reality: The remaining time on the building's lease and the problems they already endured form an iron barrier between Wu and running the restaurant.
Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at mrothborne@rosebudmedia.com or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.
