Vivian Zhu: The Most Powerful Woman Shaping the DMV's Asian Food Scene

If the restaurant business had superheroes, Vivian Zhu would be one of ours. In 2017 Edward Wong founded IVEA Concepts with entrepreneurs Vivian Zhu and Gary Ngo. Today IVEA works with more than 35 brands across more than 90 locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Vivian is IVEA's co-founder and Chief Financial Officer, and she is also our designer, problem solver, deal maker, product builder and mentor. In our view she is one of the most important people shaping the Asian food scene in the DMV today.

She pushes the boundaries of restaurant design. Vivian leads the interior design of some of the most striking dining rooms in the region. At Southeast Impression in Fairfax, she hung woven rattan lanterns under a green moss ceiling and wrapped the booths in a living plant wall. At Gyu San, our high-end Japanese barbecue, the Arlington bar glows under backlit shelves and a large geisha mural, and in Columbia a drum-shaped lantern lights the whole bar above lantern-lined grill booths. At Gyu Shige in Fairfax's Mosaic District, the first U.S. location of one of Japan's best-known yakiniku chains, she created a dark, intimate room lit by a pink neon sign. At MUI Supper Club, IVEA's most ambitious Japanese dining concept at 967 Rose Avenue in North Bethesda, the design brings together warm timber, woven pendant lights, greenery, an omakase counter and a lounge bar.

She solves the problems nobody sees. Every restaurant runs into something: construction that falls behind, a team that needs building, money that has to be found. Vivian takes these on restaurant by restaurant. When construction slips, she works with builders and landlords to get the project back on schedule. When a restaurant needs people, she leads the HR side, from hiring to keeping the team steady. When the numbers don't add up, she finds the financial fix that keeps the doors open.

She closes the deals. As CFO, Vivian leads IVEA's leasing and deal negotiations, and she is the person across the table from landlords, lenders and partners. Right now she is refinancing the property at Congressional Village in Rockville and making sure IVEA's new project in Fairfax keeps moving forward. She also leads IVEA's projects beyond the DMV, including Chicago and New York.

She builds the technology too. Vivian works closely with IVEA co-CEO Atlas Gate to launch our newest digital products, including the FOMO Events app and MUI Supper Club's customer relationship app, which helps MUI know and look after its guests. For a restaurant group, that is one of the best ways to keep guests coming back.

She rose in a male-dominated industry. Restaurant ownership and management are still run mostly by men, from the kitchen to the boardroom to the negotiating table. Vivian did not wait for permission. She earned her place by knowing the numbers better than anyone in the room, holding firm in negotiations and delivering restaurant after restaurant. To us she is one of the best examples of today's woman entrepreneur: bold with new ideas, disciplined with money and impossible to ignore.

She lifts others up. Vivian pushes IVEA's charity events and gives her time to helping and teaching minority entrepreneurs how to succeed in the restaurant business, from reading a lease to managing cash flow and building a team. Now she is building a new social media platform that teaches women how to succeed in male-dominated industries, so the lessons that took her years to learn reach many more women.

That is why we believe IVEA will keep growing strong. See her work in person at Southeast Impression in Fairfax, Gyu San in Arlington or Columbia, Gyu Shige in the Mosaic District or MUI Supper Club at Pike & Rose, and follow IVEA's journal for the next projects she leads.