B Family Sushi and Asian Cuisine has officially opened its doors in the Woodland Mall — but the new business may be familiar to many.
The Bwa family, who own the restaurant, have been serving sushi to Bowling Green customers for 11 years. They started serving at the Kroger sushi bar and have recently decided it was time to start their own restaurant.
Unlike the sushi bar, the restaurant serves much more than sushi.
Thae Su Hlaing, the owner, and her daughter, Julie Bwa, said when starting this restaurant, they decided they wanted to incorporate other Asian foods on to their menu. They sell many different types of sushi rolls, poke bowls, dumplings and bubble milk tea.
The family immigrated to America 15 years ago and found work in the sushi franchise. Hlaing, with Bwa translating for her as her English can sometimes be hard to understand, said that they ended up enjoying serving sushi to others and continued with it.
Their new restaurant is mostly takeout orders, but Hlaing said they are different than many other restaurants because of their close-knit family. Bwa said the workers consist of herself, her mom, her father and one other employee.
Hlaing said she loves to meet new people and make new relationships. With their family dynamic and love for meeting new people, she said she encourages people to check out their restaurant and hopes people continue to come back.
“My mom says because our sushi and our food is really good and we love meeting new customers and just making connections with them and making sure, just hoping they come back because my mom just really loves making food for people and also just talking to the people,” Bwa said.
On their opening day, which was Dec. 17, Hlaing said they did better than they had expected. She said they had a good turnout and the people who came bought more items than they had expected.
Many people know the family from their time at the Kroger sushi bar, and Hlaing said they often became friends with the customers. Now, those same customers came to support their new restaurant.
“Especially, even at the Kroger, a lot of the customers who come know us from the Kroger sushi bar because we made such good friends with them,” Hlaing said.
Located in the food court of the Woodland Mall, B Family Sushi and Asian Cuisine is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. They are closed on Sundays.
“Our favorite part is just being able to have our own family because now because it’s been a dream for a really really long time,” Hlaing said. “And also just being able to cook for people and just getting feedback from everyone.”
