Lovely Pao Inc. – North York

Lovely Pao Inc. was founded by Connie Laoyan, as a means to pay their rent as they were about to be evicted from their apartment. Connie had a hip replacement surgery and couldn’t work and Shahraz was still in college at the time. After being laid off because she couldn’t recover quick enough, she took matters into her own hands and used her last paycheque to make some steamed buns and sold them to friends and family. They made enough revenue to repurchase supplies and pay off the rent that month, so they did it again the following month, and again until they eventually opened up their first location in Toronto within a year.

Fast forward seven years and they officially opened their Guelph location in March 2020. Her son, Shahraz chose Guelph as the business’s second location because it is located in the centre of many neighbouring cities. This makes their deliveries to surrounding communities such as Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara, London, and Toronto quicker and easier. When asked what makes the business unique, Shahraz said “No one makes fresh steamed buns with an egg inside. It’s easier, cheaper and has less returns when you freeze the products. That’s exactly what everyone else does so we took a different approach and decided to reduce our profits for customer satisfaction.”

The business has been thriving due to the great local support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Lovely Pao Inc. currently sells their buns to over 50 grocery stores across Ontario and would like to have their buns present in 100 or more grocery stores. The company is also planning on franchising in the near future to continue their growth.