Bellevue-born business Dough Zone opened its 30th location in Vancouver on Sept. 15.
“Jason Zhai and Nancy Xia founded Dough Zone in Bellevue in 2014 and it started as just a single small mom-and-pop shop,” said Nancy Yun, marketing manager at Dough Zone USA. “Since then, we’ve been growing steadily, opening a few locations every year for the past few years.”
Since its founding, the restaurant has established locations in Oregon, California and Texas.
Opening a location in Vancouver was a choice intended to give Clark County residents the opportunity to try their Chinese comfort food.
“We have three locations in Portland, and a lot of people who work in Oregon, they may live in Washington, or they’ve heard about us,” Yun said.
An important detail that leads to the success of the business is the affordability and accessibility of the food offered.
“You don’t need to make a reservation. It’s a very homey modern environment in the restaurants, and we’re very affordable,” Yun said. “The price is very affordable, and that’s kind of our main thing.”
The culinary influence of the restaurant comes from the owners’ own ethnic heritage, giving a wide range of food options that patrons can enjoy.
“We have very traditional Chinese flavors, but we also have a lot of dishes that any American can walk in and know,” Yun said. “Jian Bao is our main item. It’s a soup dumpling, and other restaurants have made that popular in the past decade.”
In addition to the main attraction menu item, customers can find more commonly referenced foods such as dumplings, bao and pan-fried pork buns.
The arrival of Dough Zone in Vancouver also brings community engagement opportunities.
“We have a school program that we call Bao Buddy, and we do partnerships and we do dumpling-making classes in local elementary schools,” Yun said.
She was at the opening day of the restaurant and taught second graders how to make dumplings using dough that was made from scratch.
“These dumpling-making classes, we don’t charge to schools,” Yun said. “We also do lots of fundraisers with local nonprofits and schools.”
The Bao Buddies program is one of the things Yun finds herself being most passionate about in her time with Dough Zone.
“My biggest thing, I would love to increase the Bao Buddies School Program. We are a family-oriented restaurant,” Yun said. “It’s not just about opening a restaurant, but we want to meet the families, the schools, the organizations, and become a part of the community.”
Local schools interested in partnering with Dough Zone’s Bao Buddies School Program can apply at doughzonedumplinghouse.com/bao-buddies-school-program.
The Vancouver location is at 11909 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Suite 200, Vancouver.
