How Journey to the Dumpling brought soup dumplings to Elk Grove, Sacramento
Chris Tan always wanted to open a restaurant.
It was a goal he’s had since childhood. He and his family immigrated to Elk Grove from China. They were a hardworking, non-English speaking, poor immigrant family, determined to make a life in America, he said.
His parents worked in restaurants or in anything else labor-intensive, where work hours were long. As Tan got older, he followed a similar path. He worked odd jobs and dropped out of high school. His definition of success meant opening a business.
Growing up in Elk Grove, something always stood out to him. He didn’t see restaurants that served the food he grew to love at his home’s dinner table.
“A lot of our family foods … we didn’t have in Sacramento at the time,” Tan said. “Growing up, I was always like, ‘how come we don’t have dumpling restaurants?’”
Years later, Tan brought his beloved family food to Elk Grove.
The first Journey to the Dumpling restaurant opened in Elk Grove in 2016, run by Chris Tan and his wife, Yvonne Tan. The restaurant quickly became a Sacramento-area staple, serving soup dumplings like xiao long bao and other staples like the pan fried pork bun before expanding into midtown and Folsom.
The Tans both grew up in Elk Grove, close to where the first location of Journey to the Dumpling is located at 7419 Laguna Blvd., a hub of shopping centrally located in the city.
That plaza was their “dream location” for a restaurant, the couple said.
Chris Tan said he used to wash dishes at a sushi restaurant a few doors down from the future location of Journey to the Dumpling and would spend time on the outside patio for lunch after buying a book at the now-closed Borders.
When the Tans decided to open Journey to the Dumpling, they dreamed of opening in the plaza that is currently home to stores like Target and Designer Shoe Warehouse. But generally, no open spaces were available. After turning down a few other locations, their broker asked if they would be interested in the Laguna Boulevard plaza, doors down from where Chris Tan used to work and near the neighborhood where they grew up.
“It just felt like it was meant to be,” Chris Tan said. “To be part of that is special.”
Yvonne Tan said it has been “an honor” to give back to the community that they grew up in and run a business in their hometown while also raising their children.
“Elk Grove is such a great city to raise a family,” Yvonne Tan said.
Sharing culture, one soup dumpling at a time
Restaurants have always been part of the Tan family’s story. The couple met at an Elk Grove restaurant, which Chris Tan helped to start and where Yvonne Tan worked as a second job. The two have been together since 2014.
The two said working together as husband and wife is a strength for their restaurants, as they already know they “make a good team” and can communicate well.
“I think it’s a good balance, where her strengths cover my weaknesses and my strengths cover her weaknesses,” Chris Tan said.
The family business spans more than just Chris and Yvonne Tan. William Tan, Chris Tan’s brother, and John Sin, Chris Tan’s best friend, also work at the restaurant.
Both Sin and William Tan said they spent years working in the restaurant business before coming to Journey to the Dumpling.
When Sin’s family’s restaurant closed in 2019, he said Chris Tan asked him to join the business and help open Journey to the Dumpling’s midtown location.
“Ultimately, you know, he’s my best friend,” Sin said. “I was like, ‘why not? Why not go on this journey together?’”
William Tan said interacting with customers allows him the opportunity to share his passion for food with hundreds of new people every day.
“Whenever you greet a new table, you get to have a little glimpse into their life,” William Tan said. “You get to interact with them, meet new people, new cultures. Talk about food, which is what I love. … You can’t ask for more than that.”
William Tan said his experience as a sushi chef gave him the creativity to create new dishes for the restaurant, like the peking duck dish only available on the midtown location’s menu.
“Ever since I joined the team, I always think about how I can evolve the business, how I can bring my personal touches to the business,” William Tan said.
Expansion was big for Journey to the Dumpling, especially when their second location opened in midtown in 2023. But before then, the restaurant encountered an obstacle many businesses faced: the COVID-19 shutdown.
The restaurant’s long-anticipated midtown location signed its lease a week before the pandemic, Chris Tan said.
Due to the shutdown, business operations ceased, and the opening was halted. Nothing was moving, no one was working, and the couple was “trying to get out of it,” Chris Tan recalled.
The restaurant was quiet and felt a “little sad,” Yvonne Tan said. There were no roars of restaurant chatter and excitement from happy guests.
By working with their landlord and the ongoing support of the Sacramento community, the business opened in midtown in 2023. Yvonne Tan even recalls two customers who brought out lawn chairs, sitting in the parking lot to eat takeout and support the business.
“Those little moments are just very heartwarming,” Yvonne Tan said. “Being able to provide that happiness for people, because I know I get really happy when I eat good. So just to be able to provide that for other people.”
What’s next?
There are more than 700 Asian American and Pacific Islander-owned businesses in California. That represents the majority of the state’s nearly 2,000 minority-owned businesses, according to a 2024 study by Beacon Economics.
Restaurants like Journey to the Dumpling are such a powerhouse that, if California’s minority-owned businesses sustained their own economies, they would be larger than the economies of other states, such as Oregon and South Carolina, according to Beacon Economics’ study.
In 2024, Asian-owned small businesses generated around $15 billion in annual state and local tax revenue. On the federal level, these businesses generated $12 billion in federal tax revenue.
Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen said she is a regular customer at Journey to the Dumpling. As a vegetarian, she said there are a variety of options available for her, and non-vegetarian items are “loved” by her friends and family.
She said the restaurant’s “expansion and success reflect their great food and hospitality enjoyed by many in our city and region.”
“I wish them continued success,” Singh-Allen said.
As the success of Journey to the Dumpling expands, is the business planning to expand further throughout the Sacramento region?
That’s a discussion in progress, Chris Tan said. If so, the next city the couple has set their sights on is Roseville.
Today, Journey to the Dumpling is striving to be the international sensation Din Tai Fung of Sacramento. And with its Chinese immigrant origins, the business has become more than a hot dim sum spot.
Every Chinese New Year, the restaurant hosts a large celebration with lion dancers, red envelopes, and of course, dumplings. For many, it’s their first exposure to Chinese culture, William Tan said.
For the Tans, each celebration is special. Journey to the Dumpling is immigrant-founded and immigrant-run — a majority of its staff are first-generation Americans, Chris Tan said
The restaurant isn’t just a home to comforting dim sum and noodles, but an extension of Chinese culture in Sacramento.
“Coming from a low income to being able to provide that to me, as a son (of immigrants) and a father, it just feels special,” Chris Tan said.
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
