{"id":177865,"date":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/177865\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:22:12","slug":"sell-or-dont-historic-d-fw-restaurant-is-struggling-but-its-too-soon-to-give-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/177865\/","title":{"rendered":"Sell or don\u2019t? Historic D-FW restaurant is struggling, but it\u2019s \u2018too soon to give up\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a customer who suggested Richardson restaurateur Ararin \u201cIrean\u201d Wongchingchai go to the hospital last fall. Wongchingchai was unable walk. She felt dizzy. Maybe something was wrong with her eyes or her ears, she told doctors. <\/p>\n

Over three days, doctors studied what could have made Wongchingchai so weak. They forced her to lay down, to rest. Instead, she fretted about her Richardson restaurant Thai Soon, a family-owned business too small for its boss to get sick. <\/p>\n

The doctors\u2019 diagnosis was as disappointing as her debilitated state, she said. <\/p>\n

Exhaustion. <\/p>\n

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\u201cJust\u201d exhaustion, single mom Wongchingchai mused.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nothing wrong with me, internally,\u201d she said. She said she felt embarrassed she went to the hospital in the first place. <\/p>\n

\"Irean<\/p>\n

Irean Wongchingchai has a small staff that works at Thai Soon, but many of the unassigned jobs fall to her. She delivers catering orders, picks up supplies from Restaurant Depot and hops into the kitchen during busy lunches or dinners.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Rent was piling up and Thai Soon was in jeopardy of closing over a lack of sales. The business dates back nearly 40 years, as one of Dallas-Fort Worth\u2019s oldest Thai restaurants, and Wongchingchai feels responsible for the future of the place her mother built. <\/p>\n

So what\u2019s a small businessowner to do?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go back,\u201d Wongchingchai said. <\/p>\n

She left the hospital and went straight back to the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized: All this stress is not going to kill me. And, besides,\u201d she said, pausing to hear herself admit, \u201cI don\u2019t know to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Irean<\/p>\n

Irean Wongchingchai prepares Pad See Ew with shrimp on the wok at Thai Soon in Richardson.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

38-year legacy<\/p>\n

When Wongchingchai\u2019s mother, Soon Chanchaisri, opened Thai Soon on Greenville Avenue in Dallas in 1987, the restaurant carried the tagline \u201cExotic Thai Cuisine.\u201d Back then, plates of pad Thai, red curry and basil fried rice were new to some Dallasites without any ties to southeast Asia. <\/p>\n

Their family business took off, and within six years, the family opened Thai Lotus in Dallas and Thai Soon in Austin. Thai Soon moved from Dallas to Richardson in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

Dr. Manish Assar, a cardiologist, has been a customer since his residency at Parkland Hospital in the mid-1990s. Jobs took him to the East Coast, all the way to Canada, then back to Texas, where he said of Thai Soon: \u201cI got back there as soon as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Assar and his family members are vegetarian, vegan and nut-free, and he said Thai Soon has been the center of \u201cso many celebrations\u201d over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really take care of us,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been an integral part of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Soon<\/p>\n

Soon Chanchaisri holds a photograph of herself at one of her first Dallas restaurants, which opened in 1987.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Family matriarch Chanchaisri, now retired and a devoted volunteer at the Buddhist Temple of Dallas, looks back on her decades as a pioneer of Thai food in Dallas and Richardson. She actually doesn\u2019t love to cook, she said. She never wanted to open a restaurant. <\/p>\n

But Chanchaisri, a Bangkok native, put herself through college by working in restaurants, eventually earning a business degree from Pacific States University in California.<\/p>\n

After she moved to Texas, she opened a Thai restaurant to make money for her young family. She became consumed by her small business. Her professional ambition to work outside the restaurant industry evaporated.<\/p>\n

A mother of three, Chanchaisri worked six days a week at Thai Soon.<\/p>\n

Then history repeated itself. Wongchingchai took over the restaurant and is now a busy mother of three, one generation later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work six days a week,\u201d Wongchingchai said, hearing the echo in their stories. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a life, to not see my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silent spiral<\/p>\n

Wongchingchai feels caught in a silent spiral. She\u2019s too busy to deconstruct the financial problems in her business, yet too emotionally invested to quit. That\u2019s common in family-owned businesses, said Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Red Curry with chicken is one of the owners’ favorites at Thai Soon.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cRestaurants are frequently passed down through families because they are more than businesses \u2014 they are legacies rooted in relationships and community,” Knight said in an email to The Dallas Morning News. <\/p>\n

Thai Soon\u2019s struggles are mirrored by other Texas businessowners, Knight said, even though Wongchingchai feels isolated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the restaurants we must protect: family-owned businesses that carry legacy, employ neighbors and anchor our communities,\u201d Knight said.<\/p>\n

As Wongchingchai considers how to \u201cfix\u201d a financial problem she was never taught to face, friends and customers continue to offer endless ideas for Thai Soon. Do more catering. Give smaller portions. Increase prices. Cut back on vegetables. Ask ChatGPT! <\/p>\n

Will Wongchingchai make these changes? Probably not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how to be anyone but who my mom taught me to be,\u201d Wongchingchai said. <\/p>\n

\"Irean<\/p>\n

Irean Wongchingchai adds coconut milk as she cooks red curry with chicken on a wok at her restaurant Thai Soon in Richardson.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

She said she doesn\u2019t charge extra for gluten-free or vegan ingredients, which can cost more. She also refuses to to compromise on the quality of important ingredients like coconut milk, which ballooned from $30 a case to $45 a case in the past two years. <\/p>\n

Wongchingchai said earnestly: She wants customers to be happy, and she hasn\u2019t calculated the financial complications of her hospitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I see someone who is taller or bigger, I give them more. I don\u2019t want him to go home hungry,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not good for business. But it\u2019s how my mom taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rent to pay<\/p>\n

Wongchingchai started to worry about the longevity of Thai Soon in 2025, when inflated ingredient prices, depressed sales, looming tax fees and lingering COVID-19 woes pushed her to borrow money from her uncle, her mom and her friends. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s also been borrowing money from OnDeck, which has a painful 47% interest rate.<\/p>\n

Today, Wongchingchai owes $17,000 in back rent. <\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/p>\n

Thai Soon is on Coit Road, near Belt Line Road, in Richardson.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

She locks up the restaurant after scrubbing the kitchen, often around midnight. Should she dream up a special to sell low-priced fried rice, cheapening her mom\u2019s food to save the business? Should she work on spreadsheets after that, when most people sleep?<\/p>\n

Quick business fixes seem overwhelming at times, irrational at others. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just me, running everything,\u201d Wongchingchai said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I haven\u2019t been doing it correctly, because I\u2019ve just been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family business, for sale<\/p>\n

The mother and daughter look back on their restaurant. It\u2019s a happy place where Wongchingchai knows regulars by name. It\u2019s also a grueling, unprofitable business.<\/p>\n

Her mother has already given her permission to move on. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see her work so hard anymore,\u201d matriarch Chanchaisri told her daughter. <\/p>\n

\"Thai<\/p>\n

Thai Soon is a corner tenant in a shopping center on Coit Road in Richardson.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Over the years, investors have asked to buy or franchise Thai Soon, but Chanchaisri never wanted to. The recipes were too special to share. Now, Wongchingchai is wishing they\u2019d welcomed investors years ago.<\/p>\n

Wongchingchai quietly put the restaurant up for sale for $200,000. She shakes her head, wondering if she\u2019s throwing away her mom\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

The landlord has offered Wongchingchai an early out, meaning Thai Soon could cease operations before July 2026 and Wongchingchai wouldn\u2019t owe extra rent. She hasn\u2019t agreed yet. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s still hoping for an angel investor, a new operator or a surge in business. She wants more time with her kids and less time running deliveries. But she also doesn\u2019t want to quit on her mother\u2019s legacy. So she waits.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s too soon to give up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Thai Soon is at 101 S. Coit Road, Suite 401, Richardson. Open for lunch and dinner. Closed Sundays.<\/p>\n

\"Pad<\/p>\n

Pad See Ew with shrimp is popular with customers at Thai Soon in Richardson, the owner said.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a customer who suggested Richardson restaurateur Ararin \u201cIrean\u201d Wongchingchai go to the hospital last fall. Wongchingchai…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5474,918,5254,160,162,161,1623,354,959,18633],"class_list":["post-177865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-east-dallas","tag-economy","tag-historic-restaurants","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-restaurant-news","tag-restaurants","tag-richardson","tag-thai-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}