Lunar New Year, Olympics, Small Business Lessons

Endings, Expansion, and What Comes Next

In the Season 2 finale, Joyce and Han reflect on parenting, generational change, and the realities of building small businesses in Portland. They talk honestly about debt, downtown challenges, growth, and the emotional complexity of closing one chapter while preparing for another. Han shares news about the return of Kim Jong Smokehouse, and Joyce opens up about Goodies’ second location and the likely final summer in NW. An honest conversation about pressure, resilience, and what comes next.

Spring, Sick Days, and Snack Drawer Discoveries

Joyce and Han talk through the final drag of winter as small business owners, from getting sick at the worst possible time to pushing through slow months, staffing stress, and the fragile realities of running lean operations. They reflect on how spring changes everything, especially for Goodies as cherry blossom season brings the waterfront back to life. The conversation also moves into kitchen culture, chef ego, abuse in fine dining, and the mental toll of staying relevant in high-pressure industries. They close with a lighter snack segment featuring premium sesame oil, pizza chili crisp, matcha peanut butter, and a very unhinged product idea involving flavored communion wafers.Chapter Markers00:00 Recovering from being sick 02:00 Small business during late winter 03:40 Being sick while owning a business with a baby 06:00 Staffing fragility and scheduling stress 08:00 Counting the days until spring 09:20 Taxes, paperwork, and training for a fight 13:20 Cherry blossoms and Goodies’ spring reset 17:30 Chef culture, abuse, and industry power 24:00 Longevity, pressure, and surviving in food 29:00 Portland business archetypes 32:00 Seasonal confidence and self-doubt 35:30 Weather closures, power outages, and survival stories 40:40 Retail chaos and neighborhood unpredictability 41:40 Snack drawer: sesame oil, chili crisp, matcha peanut butter 53:30 Flavored communion wafers as a product idea 56:20 Outro

Lunar New Year, Olympics, Small Business Lessons

Spring is starting to show up in Portland, and Joyce and Han are feeling it. In this episode, they catch up on what’s been happening around the city, from early cherry blossoms and busy restaurant pop-ups to the realities of running a small business. Han shares stories from cooking at the Timbers season opener and reflects on how supporting other entrepreneurs builds stronger communities. Joyce talks about celebrating Lunar New Year with friends, raising baby Tycho, and the constantly evolving routine of running Goodies while balancing family life. The conversation moves through Olympic highlights, Asian American representation in sports, the idea of “legacy businesses” in Portland, and why showing up for your community matters more than any award. And of course, the episode ends with another snack test of one of the strangest drinks the show has tried so far. If you enjoy honest conversations about food, business, culture, and life in Portland, this one’s for you.

The Mom Club, The Grind, and the Samples Drawer

Han and Joyce talk hotdog fundraising wins, newborn sleep deprivation, parent identity shifts, and the strangest product samples to hit Goodies. “There’s always been something worth fighting for here.”Han and Joyce catch up on Hotdog Week fundraising, the reality of newborn sleep deprivation, and the identity shift of becoming parents while running a small business. Then Joyce pulls out two truly wild product samples to taste and debate: functional RamenAid packets and “Milkish” watermelon seed milk. Innovation or trying too hard? You decide.

Rumors, Real Estate Wolves, and Winter Portland Ghost Town

January in Portland feels cold, quiet, and weirdly heavy. Joyce and Han catch up on six-month baby life, “axer” immigrant-kid efficiency, and how small business owners learn to live out of boxes and routines. From there, the conversation turns toward real talk: neighbor politics in food pods, rumor spirals about leaving Chinatown, and the reality that developers and landlords often treat small businesses like disposable props for their pitch decks. They dig into what it means to be “political” as a brand, how fear and confusion get weaponized, and why some businesses can’t afford to close even when they support the cause. They end with a philosophy that hits hard: a business doesn’t die when it runs out of money. It dies when the founder gives up.