Lotus Garden
Yu prepares a dish in the kitchen at Lotus Garden. Sun and his partners spent almost $100,000 remodeling the restaurant, including installing some new fixtures in the kitchen.
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Yu prepares a dish in the kitchen at Lotus Garden. Sun and his partners spent almost $100,000 remodeling the restaurant, including installing some new fixtures in the kitchen.
Chef Hao Yu fries cut chilis in a wok. Chili is used heavily in Lotus Garden’s menu, which is necessary for a restaurant that strives to offer authentic Szechuan cuisine.
Students walk into Lotus Garden for dinner. The lanterns hanging in front of the restaurant were purchased during Sun’s visit home, to Yantai, for the first week of the Lunar New Year this year. The word “fu” on each lantern translates to “good fortune” in English.
Leaning against a cart from exhaustion due to lack of sleep the night before, Sun walks along an aisle in Saraga International Grocery in Indianapolis. Once a week, Sun makes the hour-long trip to Indianapolis to stock up on supplies for the restaurant. It’s usually a full-day affair, where he makes at least three stops. Sun said the weekly grocery run is a chore none of his business partners want. Therefore, he sees it as his responsibility to take on. He usually shops on Fridays, then returns to Bloomington to work the night shift at Lotus Garden.
Sun advertises Lotus Garden as he stands on stage in the IU auditorium, addressing hundreds of Chinese students and other members of the IU community during the IUCSSA’s spring festival celebrations Feb. 7. Sun said he thinks his advertising efforts at the event and through Chinese social media platforms, in addition to articles about Lotus Garden published in Bloom magazine and The Herald-Times, have brought more people to the restaurant.
Sun examines dishes catered by Lotus Garden during the IU Chinese Students and Scholars Association’s spring festival celebrations in February this year. Sun and his business partners support the IUCSSA financially and are thus able to advertise the restaurant through many of the student organization’s events. Sun said he thinks his entrepreneurial endeavors and success pave a way for other students. “I think some students like to admire me, because they also can imagine a student like them can open a restaurant and do so authentic traditional food here,” he said.
Sun’s friends join him for dinner at Lotus Garden on March 1, three days before his 21st birthday. Sun said that although his friends tease him about his business, they remain supportive of his endeavors. “Like a motivation, it spurs me,” he said. “To go further.”
Sun looks for books in the SPEA library. He has lightened his course load, a semester after opening Lotus Garden. For the Spring 2014 semester, he has scheduled four courses to occupy only two days per week, which allows him more time to be at the restaurant. He is taking classes in human resources and accounting, which he said has greatly informed his work as a restaurant-owner. At the same time, he struggles balancing between roles of student and business owner.
Fei Wang, 21, makes her way to a table with a plate of barbecued lamb kebabs. Wang met Sun through her boyfriend and works at the restaurant part-time. A large number of Lotus Garden servers are students – friends or friends of friends of Sun and his business partners.
Lotus Garden, or "he yan can ting" in Mandarin, sits along North Walnut Street and is open for eleven hours every day. The restaurant has been in operation since May 5 last year, but officially opened on August 1. Sun is confident in the restaurant’s continued success due to the steady influx of Chinese students.
Qun Sun, 21, works the counter at Lotus Garden on a busy Friday night. He is one of four restaurant owners and a junior at IU studying management at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Apart from waiting tables, Sun is usually stationed at the counter, where he interacts with customers on their way in and out and checks off receipts. Inspired by his father, who owns three businesses in their hometown of Yantai, Sun treasures Lotus Garden as the cornerstone in a long line of businesses he plans to own in the future. His devotion to its success stems from his determination to prove his maturity and capability to others, but mostly to his friends and family.
Qun Sun, 21, is one of four owners and the major shareholder of Lotus Garden, the sole student-run Chinese restaurant in Bloomington. Sun is also a junior at Indiana University, where he studies management at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He is one of the more visible characters in the emerging trend of Chinese student-owned businesses in Bloomington.
Qun Sun, 21, is one of four owners and the major shareholder of Lotus Garden, the sole student-run Chinese restaurant in Bloomington. Sun is also a junior at Indiana University, where he studies management at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He is one of the more visible characters in the emerging trend of Chinese student-owned businesses in Bloomington.
IU utility player Rebecca Gerrity poses for a portrait after the Fluid Four tournament Saturday between IU and Michigan at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Hoosiers beat the Wolverines 12-5.
IU goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault poses for a portrait after the Fluid Four tournament Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Hoosiers beat the Wolverines 12-5.
IU fans direct the fight song to Michigan fans in the stands as the Michigan team, which lost 12-5 in the Fluid Four tournament Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center, forms a line poolside.
IU utility player Katie Contreras prepares to shoot the ball during the Fluid Four tournament between IU and Michigan Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Hoosiers beat the Wolverines 12-5.
IU defender Amanda Redfern prepares to shoot the ball, away from an attacking opponent, during the Fluid Four tournament between IU and Michigan Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Hoosiers beat the Wolverines 12-5.
IU utility player Erin Pannek defends the ball from Michigan defender Gabriella Serure during the Fluid Four tournament between IU and Michigan Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Hoosiers beat the Wolverines 12-5.
IU utility player Summer Creighton prepares to shoot the ball during the Fluid Four tournament between IU and Michigan Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Hoosiers beat the Wolverines 12-5.