Above all else, they are friends.
In the 1970s, Eddie, Ti and Paul were teenagers working at a McDonald’s in Los Angeles. Eddie Yuen was a swing manager at the restaurant at Western and Romaine in L.A. when he met Ti Chang, then a physics graduate at Cal State L.A. The two later became friends with Paul Tulaphorn, a Thai immigrant who was 19 when he first arrived in Monterey Park.
Yuen, of Walnut, is Hong-Kong-born Chinese; Ti, of Los Angeles, is of Chinese and Malaysian descent; and Paul, of San Marino, is Thai. Their shared Asian heritage and entrepreneurial spirit forged a legacy at McDonald’s, of industry and hard work, helping and growing.
From juggling school with late-night shifts and trudging in the cold to open stores because they didn’t own a car, the three have acquired a combined 39 restaurants and built family businesses alongside their sons and daughters (now second-generation franchisees). They have also led McDonald’s through pivotal changes while serving in corporate leadership, including as president of the Southern California co-op.
More than 40 years after they bonded over work at the Golden Arches, the trio considers each other family, and continue to use their positions to champion community causes, including the fight to combat Asian American and Pacific Islander hate. According to McDonald’s Southern California owner-operators association, 10 percent of McDonald’s restaurants in Southern California are owned by Asian Americans.
It is a legacy none of the three, all in their 60s now, could imagine when they started at McDonald’s: Ti just enjoyed earning spending money as a 17-year-old. Paul, who didn’t speak much English, wanted to finish college. He got his McDonald’s job three days after arriving in Los Angeles.
“We were all working very hard and attending high school or college, and McDonald’s was our working place and social place,” Yuen said. “We always had fun together.”
In 1970s Los Angeles, the friends said when people mocked their accents or told them to go back to their country, they stayed silent and let it go. But it didn’t happen often.
“Everyone (in the area) seemed to be an immigrant,” Chang said. “At the restaurant I worked in, we had Cubans, Iranians, Armenians, Filipinos, Japanese, and Chinese, English as Second Language classes were always full. What I remember then was the kindness of people. I lived up a hill, and walking home from school, cars regularly stopped and offered me rides.”
Chang said he chalked up racist remarks to ignorance and preferred to think people had good intentions. Today, they say they would speak up and educate people, to be more compassionate and understanding.
“I want to be an example as a member of society who makes contributions,” Change said. “I want to educate people who commit these crimes that Asians, or any other ethnic group, are not here to harm this great country. All we have to do is look back in history, all the immigrants have made contributions and they are continuing to do so.”
Yuen said education and awareness are key to fighting hate. Tulaphorn, who helped produce and distribute booklets to the Thai community, is advocating anyone who experiences racism to report it.
“We cannot be afraid,” he said. “We need to stand up for the cause.”
The friends also note that last summer, Asian American McDonald’s operators donated to Black Lives Matter. In return, African American McDonald’s owner-operators have supported anti-AAPI campaigns after a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes. The support is part of a larger McDonald’s family that they have raised their children in.
Stephanie Yuen, 33, said she and her sisters grew up with “ketchup in our veins.” She and her sister Elizabeth, 31, are partners with their father in the family business.
“I love our little extended family of McDonald’s operators,” Elizabeth Yuen said. “As children, we saw a lot of our Dad’s work friends as aunties and uncles, and now we are colleagues as well.”
The fathers praise their children for being more capable, better leaders. Their children said they appreciate being raised respecting and honoring their heritage as well as seeing their parents’ hard work, sacrifice and contributions.
“He is truly the best mentor,” Stephanie Yuen said.”He is always able to find the fun in every moment and situation. It is something very special to see how far they have come and the successes they have achieved alongside each other.”
“The three of them have such a long history full of stories of back in the day,” Elizabeth said. “When they get together, you know it’s always going to be fun. We have grown up with their children who are also owners/operators as well and hope to have this same connection with them to tell our children.”
