About
George and Alice Chan begin creating the Yank Sing chili pepper sauce, shortly after emigrating from China and before opening the restaurant. Like many Chinese families in the late 1940’s, they fled China during the Communist Revolution and settled in San Francisco in hopes of a better life for their four children.
First Yank Sing location opens at 1357 Powell Street with only 35 seats.
Fun Fact: Our phone number was based on “SUtter-1-1111” and is still our phone number today (781-1111)!
Second Yank Sing location opens at 671 Broadway.
Fun Fact: Disguised as Hong Fat Noodle Co., this Yank Sing location was featured in Woody Allen’s 1972 film, Play It Again, Sam.
Henry and Judy Chan return from their medical studies to help George and Alice open 53 Stevenson Street, the original Stevenson Street location.
Broadway Street location moves to 427 Battery Street, a larger location with double the capacity. Henry takes over the family business and together with Judy, they pursue his lifelong mission to elevate Chinese cuisine.
Fun Fact: During construction in 2001, the General Harrison, a gold rush ship from 150 years ago, was revealed underneath the building where Yank Sing resided for 20 years.
53 Stevenson Street becomes current day 49 Stevenson Street due to building renovations.
Current day 101 Spear Street opens in Rincon Center to replace Battery Street location.
Vera Chan Waller and Nathan Waller move to Vera’s hometown of San Francisco after spending a number of years in Hong Kong working in media and marketing. The couple originally began working in production in Yank Sing’s kitchen, the heart of where the dim sum is created, and naturally transitioned to take over the day-to-day operations.
