A thick and chewy top. A crisp bottom. A mound of cilantro and a heap of housemade chile oil. Five years after serving its first dumplings in Queens, Yumpling has returned to the borough to open its first brick-and-mortar restaurant. The popular dumpling maker — which started as a stand at the Long Island City flea market in , then grew into a beloved food truck two years later — started serving lunch from a small storefront at Vernon Boulevard, between 49th and 50th Avenues, in late August.
In the two months since, the restaurant has seen socially-distant lines stretch out its front doors most afternoons and recently opened for dinner service, as well. The new restaurant marks the first time that Yumpling co-founders Jeon, Jeff Fann, and Chris Yu are consistently serving their dumplings for dinner and on weekends, as the bulk of their food truck sales came from weekday office workers.
At its beloved lunchtime food truck, Yumpling won the hearts of Midtown with just five menu items: an order of pan-fried pork dumplings, a fried chicken sandwich, and rice bowls topped with either fried chicken, braised beef shank, or stir-fried eggplant. New to the brick and mortar restaurant space is also a short menu of bubble teas, which Yu spent several months developing ahead of opening. The drinks are available in nine varieties to start, including taro latte, early grey, and Taiwanese coffee flavors.
A small mountain of cilantro, scallion, housemade chile oil, and sesame seeds finishes the dish. For the new opening, Yumpling has also brought on a long sought-after vegetarian version of its dumplings. Now that the truck is up and running, they have a variety of other expenses to account for, including cooking gas, fuel for the vehicle, portable Wi-Fi to run the POS system on the truck and parking tickets, which they accumulate regularly during service.
Other regular costs include their parking space in Long Island City and a commissary space they rent out and use to prepare food. Plus, there's the cost of maintaining the truck, says Fann: "I think everything on the truck has probably broken at least once at this point.
That has everything to do with the fact that we drive across a lot of potholes — it's very bumpy — and things like deep fryers and rice cookers were not created with this use in mind. Running a food truck isn't for the faint of heart. They assume it's a very fun experience," says Yu. And that's the biggest misconception: "The whole food truck game is not all happy and fun. It's just like any other start-up: There's a lot of work behind the scenes.
A slew of problems may arise on any given day, he says: "Your battery might run out, you might forget the water tank. Just like any other jobs, there are a lot of obstacles that you have to overcome. But having been in corporate jobs and now in a restaurant job, I would say I run into far more issues on a daily basis than I ever had in a corporate job. That said, "We pride ourselves in what we do," Yu adds. It's very satisfying. At the end of the day, all aspects that are tough aren't as tough when we see people giving us compliments, giving us a good review.
That makes it all worth it. Don't miss: Here's what it's like to work at one of the busiest Chick-fil-A locations in America. Like this story? Skip Navigation. Jennifer Liu. The Yumpling line starts forming before the window opens.
With food trucks, there's no roadmap on how to start one. Yumpling started as a stand at the Long Island City flea market. The Yumpling crew start their day in the middle of the night. My alarm sounds around a. The truck, in Long Island City around a. Yu and Jeon alternate parking and sleeping in the truck. The dumplings are the top-seller. The Yumpling food truck serves lunch in Manhattan and Brooklyn starting at a.
They'll wrap up between 6 and 7 p. One of Yumplings' menu items: the fried chicken sandwich. Fann's wife standing in front of the original truck, which they outfitted and turned into Yumpling. The full Yumpling team. A lot of people will say, 'Trucks are great because you don't pay rent. The most awesome thing about operating a food truck is that we can go to our customers rather than our customers coming to us!
Tweet that you want us near your office! Put your money where your mouth is and come on down because we can be there. The weather and the trucks have a love-hate relationship. When Mr. Golden Sun is-a-shining our customers come-a-wanting dumplings! Rickshaw participating in a flash mob dance at a birthday party for documentary filmmaker Hope Hall How important is location?
Locations are mostly based on amount of foot traffic and what the foot traffic looks like. Tall, dark, and handsome with large stomachs is what you are looking for when looking for good foot traffic. We have spots that we go to at the same time every week so our we can keep our regulars satisfied!
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