Business notebook: Former Chinese restaurant owner begins new venture

Four years ago, Peter Cai sold his former business, China Palace, on Broadway. Then, with newfound free time, he went out in search of new flavor.

"After I sold that restaurant, we went everywhere," he said. "Just to travel, to try different food. It gave me a chance to kind of pick and choose what I want here."

By "here," he means his new restaurant, Little Kitchen, which opened three months ago at 1036 N. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau.

Because whether he knew it or not, he said, traveling and finding new flavor turned out to be good preparation for creating a new menu.

"It's like a 24-hour job for me," he acknowledged. "It's not 10 or 11 hours. When you do this, you're thinking about the restaurant all the time. You put all your energies to do it.

Peter Cai, owner of the Little Kitchen, poses for a photo in his restaurant Saturday in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

"Then I found this location. I thought it was a great opportunity for us. It was close to [Southeast Missouri State] University, and it's a nice building."

His goal so far has been to take what he's learned and turn it into a unique array of Chinese dishes.

"We've completely changed the flavors of what we had before," he said. "Try to make it different from other restaurants."

Little touches go a long way toward making an experience seem more authentic, which he hopes will endear him to Southeast's international students, he said. Some of the menus, for example, are printed in Chinese.

"It helps us with all the students who come here, and we get to help them, too, especially those international students," he said.

His location puts him in proximity to the university but also is somewhat more removed than his last business.

"There's not much this side of town so far," he said. "But definitely I see it growing."

His hope is Little Kitchen will grow right along with it. Besides dine-in, it also offers party catering, takeout, drive-through and a fledgling delivery service.

"I've been living in Cape for 18 years," he said. "I've seen it grow ... and I've seen a bunch of opportunities from coming to Cape. I thought about moving to a bigger city, but really, with how nice the people are here, with the friends we have here, why would we?"

Atlas EPS in Perryville to rebuild after fire

After a fire in December destroyed about 85 percent of the Perryville, Missouri, facility, Atlas Roofing Corp. president Ken Farrish and Atlas EPS general manager Bob Butkus announced the company's plans to rebuild.

Businesses, customers and vendors have extended support to the company after the fire, plant manager Bill Calla said.

"The community outreach has been overwhelming," he said.

After the fire, Robinson Construction shared its office space with Atlas EPS staff to help them maintain operations. It also offered other security and construction services.

Nobody was hurt during the fire.

Butler Supply certified as a women's enterprise

Plumbing and electrical distributor Butler Supply was named a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council in January.

The St. Louis-based company, with a location in Jackson, is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by women.

"We look forward to partnering with those who seek out women-owned businesses to help meet their purchasing needs," Butler Supply CEO Deborah Kuempel said.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627