Restaurant Lessons from China
I had a thriving cooking school and restaurant in Beijing for more than a decade … until the coronavirus struck
The drop-off in business at Black Sesame Kitchen, the cooking school and restaurant I founded 11 years ago in Beijing, was as sudden as it was swift.
It happened in late January during the Chinese New Year holiday week, one of the few periods of the year when we aren’t fully booked. My staff and I were already starting to feel nervous about the coronavirus, which had been spreading in the city of Wuhan 650 miles south. The overseas media broke the news of a series of coverups by the local government that had slowed the national response to the virus. We felt a little reassured when, on the third evening of Chinese New Year, a boisterous crowd filled the long table in our open kitchen and watched our executive chef, Zhang Aifeng, stir-fry at the wok set over a leaping flame.
The night after, we hosted just three guests — and since that day in late January, our entire establishment has sat idle.
Now, even if guests want to come, they’re prevented by the metal fences that went up all over the city in February. The gates are patrolled by neighborhood watchmen, who record the comings and goings and the temperatures of every resident.
