Restaurateurs get lucky, tap a niche with Fortune Cookie

The entrepreneurial road can be bumpy in China, though. The first batch of fortune cookie messages they ordered from a Chinese factory arrived written in Dutch.

Later, the supplier of one of their most popular beverages, Lucky Buddha Beer, which is brewed in China for export and comes in Buddha-shaped bottles, told them to wait a year for the next shipment unless they bought in bulk.

"Our distributor changed the game plan and told us the minimum order was something stupid like 500 cases, so we had to change all our menus. That happened multiple times, same for the root beer," said Fung.

"It can be hard to get supplies of stuff like dry goods, liquor, beverages, even napkins. It's also harder to access information here. In the US, you can just pick up the phone, but here it isn't as transparent. You have to network and know the right questions."

After touring Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, they picked the latter because of the higher income level, Western infrastructure and relative ease of finding ingredients, said Rossi.

"If you want to have a good quality of life in the hospitality business, Shanghai is a great city. It's 24-hour, so when we knock off at 11pm or 12am there are plenty of places we can go," he said.

Fung said they are planning to expand in Shanghai and came close to signing a second lease last year. But he wouldn't go into detail.

"Don't share your ideas too openly here," he said. "In this city, no matter who you are talking to, word spreads and reaches unintended ears."