Jacquie Chan chows down on restaurant refocus

A decade in Perth’s restaurant business has taught Jacquie Chan a thing or two about timing.

Given Ms. Chow’s determination to grow her empire, it is understandable that Ms. Chan has recently adopted a new strategy and direction.

While business expansion and the opening of new locations is generally viewed as a positive for any brand, Ms Chan admits the growth has been overwhelming after a busy few years.

Under Ms Chow’s banner, Ms Chan opened a restaurant at the Margaret River vineyard in late 2024 and another in the CBD in early 2025.

His team has also transformed the former Fremantle police prison to open Moon & Mary, an Asian fusion restaurant, in September 2024.

Moon & Mary was Ms. Chan’s biggest venture; It was a multi-venue space with three distinct spaces consisting of a dining room, beer garden and distillery.

Miss Chan said Business News had now embarked on a broader strategy to consolidate Miss Chow’s group, which included focusing on premium dining venues and continuing to divest ventures that did not fit the brand.

This includes Moon & Mary, and Ms Chan is launching the business after about 18 months of operation.

“We realized it didn’t really fit into our existing portfolio,” he said.

“And to be really honest, I don’t understand Fremantle as much as some other bands, so we decided to move on.

“Sometimes you [have to] choose your battles. Freo is unfortunately something we’ll probably leave behind. I love the building; There is a lot of history in the building itself.

“We put a lot of effort into designing and putting together the entire story, but it’s okay if it doesn’t fit into our portfolio.”

Ms Chan said she had no regrets.

“I’d be happy to let someone else try it and we’ll move on,” he said.

“Ultimately after selling Moon & Mary, we will be in a sweet spot where there will be less stress on the management team and we will be happy to grow and maintain the Miss Chow’s brand and possibly up our game a bit and bring a lot more creativity to the Asian fusion space.

“We are very focused on functions and events and we are getting pretty good at that.”

The shift to hosting functions and events has been noticed, especially after Miss Chow’s team brought singer-songwriter Christine Anu to headline a Chinese New Year event at the Margaret River restaurant in mid-February.

Ms Chan also recently divested KiRi Japanese restaurant in Shenton Park and Miss Chow’s pantry takeaways in Bicton and City Beach as part of a strategy to consolidate the group.

Within a decade Westfield had opened and closed Miss Chow’s restaurant in Whitfords City, Rice Baby in Subiaco and the adjacent Small Talk Bar and OMG Oriental Market and Grocer in Stirling Street, Perth.

Ms Chan opened Lucy Luu, which is still in business, in Hawthorn Mountain in 2022.

At one point he and his team were juggling half a dozen venues across Perth.

But Ms. Chan has moved more toward using Ms. Chow’s name in the past few years.

Her previous Thai-inspired restaurant in the CBD, Lena’s Bar, was rebranded as Miss Chow’s on the Terrace in early 2025.

When the original restaurant closed for renovations, Lygon Lane at Bay View Terrace in Claremont was also rebranded as Miss Chow’s Petit.

Miss Chow’s Petit closed in mid-2025.

There are currently three restaurants under the Miss Chow’s name: in South Perth, in St Georges Terrace and in Margaret River.

All of Miss Chan’s hospitality ventures stemmed from the first Miss Chow’s restaurant, which paid homage to Moon Chow, the first Chinese immigrant to Western Australia in 1829.

The first Miss Chow’s opened in the Claremont neighborhood in 2015.

“A year after that, I opened another restaurant and that continued,” Ms. Chan said.

“But last year I realized it wasn’t such a good idea because times were so different.

“When I signed for Fremantle and Margaret River during the pandemic, [but] things have changed.

“The sentiment of the market has changed. Everyone’s lifestyle is different. We’ve now really looked at the group and realized we’re probably going to sell things that don’t fit into our portfolio.”

Aside from ongoing market challenges and cost-of-living pressures, Ms Chan said it was also difficult to find staff in an environment where wages in the resource sector were high.

“We couldn’t compete with them,” he said.

“That’s what we really suffered from last year.

“Finding staff in WA is quite a challenge and… it’s not just limited to the hospitality industry.

“We can’t have a business without staff, so it’s pretty important that we get our staff sorted before we open our doors.”

The new, broader group strategy also includes a continued focus on Miss Chow’s ready-made meal range, which started as a business lifeline during the pandemic.

Miss Chow’s restaurant in South Perth opened in 2019.

Products under the Miss Chow’s at Home range include frozen patties, ready-to-eat sauces and chilled meals, which are stocked in major supermarkets across Australia.

“[During the pandemic] “We didn’t have much of a choice,” Ms Chan said. Business News.

“But what I really wanted was to be able to look after my staff because 50 per cent of my workforce was not eligible for JobKeeper.

“Then I created jobs for them to come back and pack the meatballs, cook for the supermarket, so I could keep paying them and they could keep living.

“However, one thing led to another and before we knew it we were supplying dumplings and meals to many supermarkets in WA and expanded nationally about three years ago.”

Miss Chow’s has since become Western Australia’s largest producer of cold dishes, according to Ms Chan.

“From there we grew from our little central kitchen in Osborne Park and now it is co-owned and joint ventured by Milne Agrigroup and we have a food processing plant in Forrestdale called Daily Chef,” he said.

“Our partnership is probably the best marriage we could find in WA, with my partners involved in pig and chicken farming… and me being in the restaurant space and creating sauces and flavor profiles for our products.”

beginning

By day, Ms. Chan is a pearl and diamond merchant; a profession he has undertaken for the last 26 years.

His foray into the restaurant business began when a client in the jewelry business received an offer to rent in the Claremont District.

Instead, the customer put forward Ms. Chan’s name, knowing that she was considering opening a dumpling restaurant.

Cocktails, champagne and wine meet in exclusive locations of Asian fusion.

The motivation to open a nut- and preservative-free Asian fusion restaurant was personal for Ms. Chan, who has many food allergies.

“I prepared a business scenario and since I have no experience in this field, [food and beverage]Ms. Chan said I needed to convince them why I thought this was a good idea.

“I enjoy my drinks, so having nice cocktails or a glass of champagne with my dumplings will be very good for me and my friends.”

He said 10 years ago there was a gap in the market for a fine dining experience offering Asian fusion cuisine in Perth.

“Back when we started, we ‘sexed’ Asian fusion food…we had long lines out the door,” Ms. Chan said.

“I think the trend has caught on in Perth with Asian fusion, but I would say the food scene in Perth has really evolved.”

Competition from similar restaurants that have opened in the past decade is welcome, he said.

“I think the more cheerful the better,” Ms. Chan said.

“It also gives people the opportunity to step up their game and challenges chefs to be more creative.”

Future

Often referred to as the ‘Dumpling queen’, Ms Chan said the real legacy she wanted to leave was opening Perth to a different way of eating.

“Since we adhere to our food principles, it was extremely expensive and difficult to operate with Chinese chefs,” he said.

“We decided to educate Chinese chefs not to use MSG in simple foods like fried rice.

“We did it, and I am extremely proud of my team because they grew up learning how to sell, prepare and create good, clean food without using any bad stuff.

“I think we have made a slight impact on the food industry, so we can run a nut-free Chinese restaurant.

“There are so many families that can safely dine with us, and they tell us that and thank us for being that safe restaurant… because there aren’t many restaurants that are nut-free.

“It’s quite risky from my perspective, but we have completely trained the kitchen.

“Our staff is not even meant to bring food to the restaurant or venue. [their home cooked food] Because we don’t know what’s inside.”

Miss Chow’s in Claremont was one of the first places in Perth to offer world-class Asian fusion food.

His insistence on keeping a safe, allergy-free space in his venues all these years has been appreciated by regular diners.

“Going forward, we will continue this, even though it is an expensive exercise for us,” Ms. Chan said.

“But we want to continue providing good, clean food by using local produce and supporting other Western Australian producers.”

A decade in the industry and a new strategic direction have only increased Ms. Chan’s enthusiasm for the challenge.

In fact, he looks forward to at least another decade with Miss Chow, with the support of his daughters, who are also involved.

“I’m pretty stubborn and I love my food and drinks,” Ms Chan said.

“I always challenge my chefs to see if we can go a little higher each time.

“The brand has evolved, our food has evolved and I’m really proud of my team for being able to deliver whether it’s 20 people or 120 people.

“My daughters and my team [have] They believed in it very much and they also agree. “This is how we are known and we will continue.”