I see alot of chinese restaurants look very similar, same menu, etc...
it almost looks like a single organization puts them together.  Is
this true, is their a central organization that helps chinese
restaurants, particularly take out places get setup?

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 30 Sep 2005 13:07 PDT

Hello stevegman-ga,

I'm not sure if you're asking for why Chinese restaurants seem to have
very similar menus because of the style of layout and printing or
because of the content of the menu, i.e., the food served.

http://www.afullbelly.com/2004/12/most_chinese_ta.html
Most Chinese take-out menus are printed in NYC
NYTimes on the Chinese restaurant menu printing industry: "Thousands
of Chinese restaurants east of the Mississippi, and even many west of
it, have their menus designed and printed by one of the 15 or so large
shops on or near the two blocks of Market between Monroe and Henry
Streets, just below the Manhattan Bridge."

The article mentioned in this blog is available from the NY Times. If
you're not a subscriber already, you can get a free trial or pay for
the single article. You can also access this article through Infotrac
at your local public library.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30711F83A550C718DDDAB0994DC404482
URBAN TACTICS; The Kings of Sweet and Sour
December 12, 2004, Sunday
By ALEX MINDLIN (NYT); The City Weekly Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section 14, Page 4, Column 1, 1182 words 
DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 1182 WORDS -

IN a small cluttered room in a Canal Street basement, Wei Yao sat at a
rickety table and proofread a Chinese menu. Red pen in hand, he fixed
misspellings (''loster'' to ''lobster'') and revised the list of
dishes, consulting notes supplied by his client. Fried cheese got
struck out....

To read the rest of this archive article, upgrade to TimesSelect or
purchase as a single article.

------------------

Wow! I also found a complete copy of this article in another blog.
Scroll down about a quarter of the page for the article.

http://guillemette.typepad.com/guillemette/2005/06/le_gnral_tsao.html
Urban Tactics: The Kings of Sweet and Sour

December 12, 2004
By ALEX MINDLIN 


Is this the information you were looking for? Let me know if I can
post this as the official answer. I look forward to your
clarification.

~ czh ~

Hello stevegman-ga,

Thank you for accepting the New York Times article about Chinese
restaurant menus as the answer to your question. You also said that
you were interested in how to succeed as an entrepreneur. I?ve
collected some articles for you to help you with your project.

Best wishes for great success.

~ czh ~


===================
CHINESE RESTAURANTS
===================

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30711F83A550C718DDDAB0994DC404482
URBAN TACTICS; The Kings of Sweet and Sour
December 12, 2004, Sunday
By ALEX MINDLIN (NYT); The City Weekly Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section 14, Page 4, Column 1, 1182 words 
DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 1182 WORDS ?

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.c-r-n.com/english/content.asp-category_id=2379.htm
Chinese Restaurant News
http://www.c-r-n.com/english/content.asp-category_id=36711.htm
Top100 Ranked U.S. Chinese Restaurants Announced during All Asia Food Expo

-------------------------------------------------


http://cityguide.pojonews.com/fe/DayTrips/stories/dt_museum_of_chinese_americas.asp
http://www.jsonline.com/entree/cooking/oct04/265961.asp
Savoring influence of Chinese restaurants

What's more American these days than Chinese food? Oddly enough, just
about nothing. And a new exhibit at the Museum of Chinese in the
Americas ( www.moca-nyc.org) looks at how exactly that happened - and
what kinds of things happened along the road from chop suey and chow
mein to General Tso's chicken and the tingly spiciness of Sichuan
shredded pork.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.startupjournal.com/franchising/franchising/20050209-gray.html
Chinese Entrepreneurs Eye Fast-Food Franchises

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_73/readinghistoryinchinese.html
Reading history in Chinese menus

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.sba.gov/co/success2.html
Success Story

Huang International, Inc. 
After 30 years of owning and operating five well-known Chinese
restaurants in Northern Colorado , and a number of other successful
businesses in the investment and real estate field, Walter Huang has
lived the ultimate American dream of entrepreneurship.


===============================
CHINESE IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS
===============================

http://www.asian-nation.org/small-business.shtml
Asian Small Businesses

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/12/31/MN106222.DTL
Immigrants find family business can fuel stereotypes 
Early arrivals were forced to find niche work

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.aoef.org/papers/2002/bozorgmehr_1.doc
MMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES: TRENDS, RESEARCH AND THEORY

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.ablongman.com/product/0,,0205166725,00%2ben-USS_01DBC.html
Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship: The New Chinese Immigrants in the San
Francisco Bay Area (Part of the New Immigrants Series)

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.chicagofed.org/news_and_conferences/conferences_and_events/files/financial_access_for_immigrants_min.pdf
Sources of Capital for Post-1965 Asian Immigrant Businesses

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.ppic.org/main/commentary.asp?i=206
A Valley Asset: Chinese, Indians Creating Businesses, Jobs, Wealth As
Successful Entrepreneurs

-------------------------------------------------


http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/east_asia_pacific/chinese_human_smuggling/smuggling_routes/Forbidden_Workers_excerpt.html
Excerpts From "Forbidden Workers: Illegal Chinese Immigrants and American Labor"

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.chinesecommunity.us/index.php
Gateway to the Chinese Community in the United States

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.ccsbe.org/2005/abstracts/Lin.pdf
Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Network Marketing Organizations

-------------------------------------------------


http://modelminority.com/printout372.html
Chinese Immigrants Take to U.S. Politics

-------------------------------------------------


http://conferences.aoir.org/viewabstract.php?id=195&cf=3
Surfing the Transnational Web: the Internet and ?Astronaut? Chinese Entrepreneurs



===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

chinese takeout menus
chinese immigrants starting business in us
chinese immigrants entrepreneurs restaurants

---

Clarification of Answer by czh-ga on 03 Oct 2005 11:41 PDT

Dear stevegman-ga,

I'm shocked at your rating which indicates that you're unhappy with my
answer. I wish you had asked for further clarification if you felt
something was missing. I'm especially mystified because you had
indicated that my original clarification was the exact answer you were
looking for. Then you asked for a clarification that was beyond the
original question. I answered this for you in detail as well. I
believe in giving excellent customer service and like to impress first
time posters of what is possible.  I suggest that you review the
following links so you will have a more satisfying experience with
your next question.

All the best.

~ czh ~

http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html
http://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html

was a good answer

I'm Chinese, chinese restaurants don't look very similar. Where did
you look them, in TV? Movie? If you come to China , you will find
every restaurant has own style.
You look them very similar, I link you only look the chinese style.
Look more and more , you can find them very different.

I think you misunderstood what I am asking... if you look at chinese
take out menus they have a similar style.  thats all - obviously each
restaurant is unique, I'm asking if their is a company that creates
the same menus, for all of these take out places.

czh - I will accept that as an answer please submit it!  I would like
more information on the culture of the chinese (sometimes being poor),
coming to another country and starting a business.  I have started my
own business but to do so in another country seems like a very
daunting task and I would love to hear how they do it!

ZhuZhu-ga is right, of course, but in a foreigner's eyes, the
similarities outweigh the differences.  I remember thinking in China
that Western Chinese restaurants really do a good job of looking like
restaurants in China, just an example of my own simplification, only
seeing the similarities.

Works the other way, of course.  Chinese and Europeans will feel that
a lot (most?) American restaurants look alike, unmistakeably
"American".  the same applies to the menus, but Czh-ga has found a
most obvious reason for that.