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Honouring heritage, embracing hospitality: SBE alumna Yinyin’s story

When she walks through the doors of her restaurant on the weekend, she is not just an owner checking on operations. She is also a project manager, a strategist, a sister, and an entrepreneur balancing two very different worlds.

Yinyin Zhao, SBE Alumna of Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, she spends most of her weekdays working with the A-list hightech giants in the fast paced logistics industry. Her attention shifts to a growing restaurant venture in the south of the Netherlands, a business she unexpectedly joined to help her brother. What started as a last-minute solution has quickly turned into a promising entrepreneurial journey.

Her role from the outset has been unconventional. Rather than giving up her corporate career, she has balanced both worlds contributing to strategy, operations, and team development for the restaurant while maintaining her projects in the tech sector. “I told him I wanted to keep my corporate job,” she says. “But I would support the business wherever I could.”

Redefining a family legacy

The restaurant is part of a larger family hospitality network, but she and her brother approach it differently from previous generations after taking over the business in the southern Netherlands. Whereas older family members might have opened a restaurant and dedicated their entire lives to it, the siblings treat their ventures more like startups: launch, stabilize, build a strong team, and then expand.

The first location, Restaurant Silmo in Brunssum, opened in January 2024, and the response has been promising enough to justify a second restaurant right in the heart of Maastricht, a city familiar to both of them from their student days. “We know Maastricht very well,” she says. “It’s vibrant, diverse, and a great place for our concept.”

Her brother Oliver (FASOS Alumnus), with a background in architecture and interior design, takes the lead on creating the atmosphere. She, leveraging her corporate experience, focuses on operational design, training, and strategic planning. Together, they have built a young, energetic team containing more than 35 individuals between the age of 16 to 25 operating under a well-defined SOP.

A new take on hospitality

The restaurant serves Asian fusion cuisine, where the timeless East Asian flavors inspired by tradition are refined with European flair. Yet, the most significant difference is not in the food, but in the dining experience itself: an all you-can-eat concept that is slower and more social.

Traditional all-you-can-eat formats often rush diners from one dish to another, creating a chaotic atmosphere. In contrast, guests order one dish per person per round here, giving them time to savour their meals and converse with their table. “It’s still unlimited,” she notes, “but it’s meant to be relaxed. You should have time to talk, enjoy the food, and stay for a while.”

This approach has resonated, attracting not just local families but also visitors traveling from other regions, drawn by the restaurant’s reputation and modern branding approach. Unlike previous generations of family restaurants, they actively cultivate a brand presence through social media, influencer collaborations, and media appearances, ensuring their concept reaches a broader audience.

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Service as a Philosophy

For her, hospitality is less about the menu and more about how guests feel. Every detail,  from staff training to attire and tone is carefully considered to create a welcoming atmosphere. Employees are trained on the right way to approach tables, greet guests, and maintain a professional yet approachable appearance. The goal is simple: “Treat guests the way you would want to be treated.”

She recounts experiences from other restaurants where service felt rushed or dismissive, and how small gestures can make all the difference. “Sometimes it’s not even about the food,” she says. “It’s about the experience.”

By blending corporate efficiency, youthful energy, and genuine hospitality, she and her brother have found a way to honour their family heritage while crafting a new model for restaurant service one that balances operational excellence with a human touch.

Looking into the future

The Aki Fusion Restaurant & Bar in Maastricht is set to open in mid-April, with a grand opening planned for early May. It represents the next step in a growing vision: to build scalable, well-run restaurants that maintain high standards of service and atmosphere, without requiring the owners to be on-site at all times.

For an SBE alumna whose life began in lecture halls and corporate boardrooms, the restaurant floor has become a place to innovate, connect, and carry a family legacy into a new era of hospitality.

Silmo Restaurant
Author:
Lieve Otten

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