By KENNEDY WILLIAMS, NEWS3 Reporter
MACOMB, Illinois – After recent calls to end the Asian-American hate crimes in the United States, the co-owner of a restaurant in Macomb is sharing her experience with the community.
“Treat people the way you want to be treated, that’s the Golden Rule, and I feel like the Golden Rule has been lost,” Tammy Yates, co-owner of Chubby’s restaurant, said.
Yates said her mindset comes from her mother, Sufen Fú, who instilled kindness and hard work in her at a young age.
“She just was always a hard worker,” Yates said. “She did a lot of doubles when I was growing up.”
However, Yates’s own resilience was tested on Nov. 22, 2020, when her mother died from COVID-19.
“When it happened, it was ‘do we just fold and be done?’ [with the restaurant],” Yates said. “My mom was such a fighter her whole life. I know my mom would not have wanted me to quit.”
Yates said they did not quit, but she did create what she calls, “Special dinner bowls” to honor her mother and add some culture.
“The first one we did was the red-cooked beef noodles and I think we sold 131 bowls of it between 4 and 7 p.m.,” Yates said. “It just was amazing.”
Although Yates was nervous about how people would respond to authentic Chinese food, as she said it has never been sold locally, she was pleasantly surprised at the outpouring of support she received.
“I think everybody liked it, at least the reviews that we got, everybody really liked it,” Yates said.
It is a creation that Yates hopes will embrace diversity.
“We all have the choice to be kind and I just feel like that’s what we need to do, as a world,” Yates said.
