Fishing for flavor

Wang Yongjiu's daughter, Wang Shiyi, has developed the brand into a chain.

Sichuan hosts a number of Yongjiuwang restaurants along highways, in high-end shopping malls and on business streets.

And Wang Shiyi brought the brand out of Sichuan last year, when she opened a Beijing branch with a team of cooks who average 18 years of experience.

Her father told her before she headed to the capital: "Don't return within six months. And you shouldn't come to see me if the restaurant isn't doing well."

Wang Shiyi says they were invited to open a Beijing branch a decade ago, but her father refused. He was concerned they couldn't bring the same flavor to the capital.

"Now is the time because we have better logistics to bring fresh ingredients to Beijing daily," Wang Shiyi says.

She recalls hating the business when she was in elementary school. Her parents were too busy to look after her and her sister. The two girls had to watch customers' cars.

"However far away they parked, we had to walk there to look after them," she says.

Wang Shiyi initially refused to take over the family business and worked at a bank for eight years after graduating from college.

But her father persuaded her in 2000.