According to writer Sara Lynn Hua for a blog entitled,
“TutorMing Chinese Language and Culture Blog,” and
published on October 09, 2015, “Their unique attributes
are formed by a combination of geographical differences,
cultural shifts, and availability of produce and resources
through out sic the different regions.”
Evidently, more than Sze’s cooking caught Sandy’s
attention because in 1979, they got married. In the same
year, they opened a Chinese restaurant in Wilmington,
Delaware. Even though the restaurant did not fare well,
it was an invaluable experience. Sandy and Sze sold the
establishment and moved to Columbus, Georgia, where
they found work in a Chinese restaurant there. Two years
later, the couple had their first child. They named their
daughter Pei Pei.
36 TOOMBS COUNTY MAGAZINE
Two years later, Sze and Sandy decided to give the
restaurant business another try. They moved to Douglas,
Georgia, and opened a new Chinese restaurant, which
they named the Peking House. Sze and Sandy initially had
no plans of expanding their business. The idea to open
a second Peking House in Vidalia, Georgia, came from
Roy Palmer and Mayor Ronnie Dixon. Whenever the two
businessmen traveled through Douglas, they would eat at
the Peking House. When they suggested a Peking House
would do well in Vidalia, Sandy said, “I asked, ‘Where is
Vidalia?’” and laughed.
Finally, Roy Palmer took his suggestion a step
further. “He said to me, ‘If you will come, I will build you
a building,’ I thought he was joking, but that’s what he
did.” She laughed again. On June 22, 1986, Sandy and Sze
opened a Peking House in Vidalia, and Roy Palmer and
Mayor Dixon were right – Toombs County loved it.
Even though both restaurants were doing well, the
distance between the two was too much with a small
child. “When we closed in Vidalia at midnight, then I had
to drive home to Douglas,” said Sandy. “I had to leave my
ABOVE Sze and Sandy were the original owners of the Peking
House. In 2007, after successfully opening Koiya Japanese Express,
they sold the Peking House to focus on their new venture.
OPPOSITE Today they continue to work at Koiya Japanese
Express overseeing the day-to-day operations.