Beginning with his first job in high school as a web design intern, Hsu has built a career in entrepreneurship.
Over a 16-year career, Hsu built his first start-up in 2004 after finding a niche market in California for ethnic Chinese clothing. Since then, he has worked in startups in a range of industries such as construction, trade-sourcing, VI/branding, online-marketing, and restaurants/food spaces.
In 2011-2012, Hsu was a Director of Operations for Groupon China (Gaopeng), where he helped build the company’s operational processes and oversaw the country’s Partner Management departments that included over 100 employees and 20,000 partners.
After Groupon, Hsu founded Fatface Dining with his brother Eric, a professional chef from Los Angeles with Michelin restaurant experience. Over the course of three years, Fatface has built a sustainable catering business with noted clients such as Microsoft, Airbnb, and Goldman Sachs.
While still running Fatface in 2015, Hsu and Eric co-founded The Smokeyard Restaurant, an American-style chain, opening three locations in Beijing’s thriving areas of Wudaokou, Sanlitun, and inside Tsinghua University, in the second half of 2015. All three restaurants reached profitability within four months after opening.
In Jan 2016, Hsu co-founded The Crib 育膳房, opening in Nov 2016, possibly China’s first Food Hall Incubator space hosting 25 food and beverage retail startup brands, in the Sanlitun area of Beijing.
Currently, Hsu acts as a consultant and mentor bridging China and Western business realms.
As a restaurateur, Hsu continues to engage with the entrepreneur and F&B communities through mentorship, consulting, and charity. As a creative, he is still constantly on the lookout for exciting new avenues to grow personally and professionally.
Favorite Quote: “Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.” ― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull