A chef who loved the restaurant where she cooks so much she bought it from her boss is the Tri-Cites Chamber of Commerce member of the year.
Ahyoung Baek, the chef and owner of Pasta Polo restaurant in Coquitlam, will be honoured at the chamber’s annual Business Excellence Awards gala on April 5.
Baek, who’s originally from Korea, had worked at restaurants in Melbourne and Edmonton before Fred Soofi hired her as a server at his Pasta Polo kitchen in 2014. She immersed herself in every aspect of the business, including a stretch washing dishes.
“If it was dirty, it had to be me that cleaned it,” Baek told the Tri-City News in 2023.
When Soofi, who’s renowned for his community involvement by hosting fundraisers at his restaurant, advocating for Iranian-Canadians and saving heritage homes, decided it was time to slow down in advance of his retirement, he floated the idea of selling his longtime business to his staff.
Only Baek stepped forward even though, she admitted, she didn’t have the financial resources.
“I knew she had lots of ability,” Soofi said.
So they worked out an arrangement that would allow Baek and her husband, Jeremy, to complete the purchase over five years.
But by folding her share of the restaurant’s profits back into the business, Baek was able to accelerate the plan and they officially took over Sept. 1, 2023.
Since then, Baek has worked to continue Soofi’s legacy of providing good, hearty Italian food, including homemade pasta seasoned with herbs grown right outside the restaurant, desserts and bread.
“We have to focus on food,” Baek said.
It’s that kind of dedication to her craft, customers and community that makes Baek a worthy recipient of the chamber’s highest individual honour, said the organization’s CEO, Leslie Courchesne.
She said Baek “is an exceptional member of our chamber and the Tri-Cities community. She is a successful local business owner who lives the values of our chamber through and through.”
Baek said her involvement with the chamber — on top of all her other responsibilities as a restaurateur and mother to two children — provides valuable connections in the business community and inspires her to continue Soofi’s tradition of helping out local organizations like SHARE Family and Community Services, Kinsight, the Coquitlam Express hockey team, Eagle Ridge Hospital and the Soroptimists.
“The support, networking opportunities, and sense of belonging it provides are invaluable,” she said.
With files from Diane Strandberg, Tri-City News
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