Taipei Times: How did you first get into the restaurant business?
Jake Lo: I'm originally from Chiayi and I moved to Taipei when I was 17 to look for work. The chances of finding work here were better because the Americans where here. I found a job as a live-in cook for American military families. Before that I had never been in contact with Westerners.
It was a really interesting experience, as I was straight out of school and spoke very little English.
I worked for four or five different families in the space of about six or seven years. Then when Taiwan and America broke off diplomatic relations in 1979 and the American military pulled out, I decided I would open my own business. Actually, I had no other choice.
TT: How did you learn to cook Western food?
Lo: The American families that I used to work for taught me how to cook very simple Western food. Those recipes provided a basis for my menu, although not enough selections to run a business.
I bought cookbooks like Betty Crocker, and now have over 30 in total. I have adapted many of these recipes over the years to better suite my customers' tastes. I plan to write a book with all my recipes in it to pass down to my son and grandson so that they can keep the restaurant going after I retire.
TT: How much of the cooking do you do yourself?
Lo: I still make most of the basics myself. In fact I was up until 5am this morning making mushroom soup and pumpkin pie. I usually make large quantities of things like pancake mix in the central kitchen, which takes up the whole of the third floor of this restaurant. I then put it in the freezer and whenever the chefs downstairs need anything, they can just go and take it out of the freezer.
But I don't actually cook the food myself. I just train the guys in the kitchen how to prepare it and add the garnish. They just do the real simple part and I don't have to hire Western chefs.
TT: Who were your main customers back in the early days?
Lo: When I first started my restaurant about half of my customers were Taiwanese and half Western. I made very simple things like fried chicken, hamburgers and spicy beef.
Then in about 1984 or 1985 we redecorated the whole restaurant and I started to change the menu as I wanted to concentrate on my Western customers. I started selling pancakes, cooking bacon and eggs and other Western food. At that time 70 or 80 percent of my customers were foreigners.
TT: When you first opened your restaurant in 1979, what sort of difficulties did you run into?
Lo: At the beginning it was a little bit tricky getting a license. But you could always just open up without one.
I found the main problem was hiring staff who could speak decent English, as the majority of our customers were foreigners. Then somebody suggested going to ask at the American School. Of course the high-school kids there could speak excellent English as most were native speakers. So I started hiring these kids to come and work on the weekends when we are the busiest.
Now things have changed and I have no problem hiring locals who speak good English.
TT: You offer everything from grilled-cheese sandwiches to Mexican dishes. How did you come up with such a wide-ranging menu?
Lo: When I first opened, my menu was only one page. But as my customers increased, my menu diversified and now it's a whole book long.
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