She and her partner have operated their Little Yen’s food truck at the Otago Farmers Market, held every Saturday morning near the Dunedin Railway Station, for the past three years.
Today will be their last appearance, having decided to close the business for good.
Ms Wen said it was a decision she had been mulling over since the start of the year.
Her partner, Charles Hendry, was studying fulltime so was not able to help out as much as needed.
They also had a 2-year-old daughter.
‘‘What makes money is events, and the events, they happen in the weekends,’’ she said.
‘‘There’s no daycares open on the weekends and, as a mother, I really like to spend time with my daughter as well.
‘‘Every time I have events or go to the farmers’ market, I just think: ‘should I open or should I stay with my daughter?’.’’
Those kinds of questions had been bothering her for the past year or so.
It was a relief to finally have them answered.
‘‘It’s a really easy decision, to go with your family or the business.
‘‘It’s not really hard at the end.’’
Specialising in Taiwanese street food, Little Yen’s started in 2021 as a food truck before expanding into a cafe, which has since closed.
Mr Hendry said rising food prices had definitely impacted the business’ profitability.
They had been reluctant to raise their prices.
‘‘The margin gets smaller and smaller, and you’ve got to work harder and harder to try and make any money.’’
While they had considered selling the business, they did not think it would be worth it, Mr Hendry said.
Ms Wen said she would miss catching up with customers every Saturday at the market.
Because she had worked for herself for so long, she did not know if she could work for someone else.
She was considering doing something on social media and another stint in hospitality could be a possibility, perhaps when her daughter was older.
For now, her daughter was what was most important.
‘‘I’m going to enjoy the weekend with our daughter, [being] able to do stuff together as a family.
‘‘That’s the most important thing for us at the moment.’’
