The closure announcement of a long-time Richmond bubble waffle café had loyal customers flooding in to grab a treat from one last time this week.
Rainbow Café in Parker Place was operated by sibling duo Carrie Ma, 81, and Grandpa Seto, 77, who shared their love for bubble waffle with the community for 30 years.
While the café is known for its bubble waffles, which are made fresh to order, it also offered other traditional Asian-style snacks including phoenix rolls, egg rolls and dragon beard candy.
On the café’s last day on Wednesday, Feb. 26, customers were seen waiting even before the café opened and they were still lining up after 7 p.m.
Before opening Rainbow Café in Parker Place, Ma worked at other malls including Yaohan and Aberdeen, as part of the first generation of business owners bringing bubble waffles to Richmond.
When Parker Place opened in 1993, she and her brother decided to open their own waffle café business.
Memories abound from their 30 years of serving bubble waffles. Ma recalls once hearing a child crying near their store because their parents wouldn't let them get a bubble waffle.
“We secretly gave the child a bubble waffle and we remember seeing that big smile on their face,” Ma said.
Emotions were running high for Ma and Seto when generations of families visited them this week and on their final day.
“We are so happy and emotional seeing all these kids who used to come when they were young and now have grown up and bringing their own kids to visit us and eating our bubble waffles.
“We’ve had customers reminiscing with us (about) their memories of the mall and our store and even getting teary-eyed.”
Kay Ng, media spokesperson for Parker Place, said the sibling duo worked tirelessly until the end of the day on Wednesday.
“A lot of the food court tenants were nice and saw the two working to the point they were so tired,” said Ng.
“There was even one tenant who helped them hand out and announce order numbers until the very end.”
Ng said the owners were “getting really emotional” talking to each customer that “you just can’t put it into words.”
“When they decided they needed to retire, there was a moment they would sit in the food court and just stare at the shop,” said Ng.
“The times are different and they are older now, so they said it’s a good time to retire. If they could continue doing it, they would.”
Rainbow Café has become a memorable place for many families over the years, Ng said.
“I’m so thankful for them to create such amazing and sweet memories for Parker Place customers and the community through their store,” said Ng.
“These small shops are getting fewer and I want people to pay more attention to them.”
Despite the closure of the store, Ma and Seto are considering taking personal bookings for events, for example, parties.
This would mean bringing the bubble waffle machine to the events, or they could make the snacks and bring it to the events.
Grandpa Seto is even considering working in the food industry as he used to be a chef in Hong Kong prior to immigrating to Canada.
They thanked everyone for their support and for "loving our food all these years."
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