When her five daughters were young, Helene An always told them that there was strength in unity. To show this, she held up one chopstick, representing one person. Then she easily broke it into two pieces. Next, she tied several chopsticks together, representing a family. She showed the girls it was hard to break the tied chopsticks. This lesson about family unity stayed with the daughters as they grew up.
Helene An and her family own a multi-million dollar restaurant business in California. However, when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975, they didn't have much money. They moved their family to San Francisco There they joined Danny's mother, Who owned a small Italian sandwich shop. The Ans began with only a small idea and never dreamed of the success they have today.
Soon after the Ans' arrival in the United States, Helene and her mother-in-law, Diana, changed the sandwich shop into a small Vietnamese restaurant. They named it Green Dragon, which symbolizes good luck in Vietnamese. The restaurant was very popular, and they expanded from 20 seats to 70. The five daughters helped in the restaurant when they were young. Their mother told them that they all had to work hard to reach their goals and make their family stronger. Helene did not want her daughters to always work in the family business because she thought it was too hard.
Eventually the girls all graduated from college and went away to work for themselves, but one by one, the daughters returned to work in the family business. They opened new restaurants in San Francisco and in Beverly Hills, a wealthy area in Los Angeles. The daughters chose new names and styles for their restaurants. Over the years, some ideas were successful, but others were not. Even though family members sometimes disagreed with each other, they worked together to make the business successful. Daughter Elizabeth explains, "Our mother taught us that to succeed we must have unity, and to have unity we must have peace. Without the strength of the family, there is no business. So even when we don't agree, we are willing to try a new idea."
Their expanding business became a large corporation in 1996, with three generations of Ans working together. Helene is the expert on cooking. Helene's husband Danny An is good at making decisions. Their daughter Hannah is good with computers. Hannah's husband Danny Vu is good at thinking of new ideas and doing research. Hannah's sister Elizabeth is the family designer. She designs the insides of the restaurants. Their sister Monique is good at managing. Elizabeth says, "If you're going to work as a family, you have to know what you're good at. We work well together because we have different strengths." Even the grandchildren help out.
Now the corporation makes more Ans' than $20 million each year. Although they began with a small restaurant, they had big dreams, and they worked together. Now they are a big success. Helene says, "In Vietnam I didn't have to do anything for myself. Here, I've had to do everything But I was never unhappy because every day I could see all the members of my family, and that gave me courage to do more. This has been our greatest fortune1, to work together as a family