William Liu grew up near his family’s frozen dim sum shop that opened in downtown Vancouver in 1991, later moving to a location on nearby East Pender Street, where freezers today brim with bao buns and leaf-wrapped sticky rice.
Liu, 35, had different plans for his future.
He was pursuing a master’s degree in music in New York City and auditioning at The Juilliard School when his dad suddenly needed kidney surgery.
So in 2014 he came home instead. Now, as CEO of Kam Wai Dim Sum, he rings in customers and works on wholesale deals, seeking to expand the family business in recent years — and keep it running.
That sacrifice
