The family Chiu Chow restaurant - Kwai Kee, is mainly run and maintained by Papa and Mama Wu. Both of them are from Chiu Chow, with Chiu Chownese as both of their native and first language, the pair met back in their hometown and later immigrated to Hong Kong at a young age. Papa Wu recalled that he was around 18 when he first arrived in Hong Kong.
Upon arriving Hong Kong, Papa Wu did not speak Cantonese. Back then his first job was to work in a restaurant, where the circumstances urged him to learn Cantonese to communicate with his co-workers. Despite not his native language, he was able to acquire the language, as he said through watching TV and being immersed in a Cantonese-speaking environment. And today, the pair have their own Chiu Chow restaurant and both are bilingual in Chiu Chownese and Cantonese.
In daily interactions with their children, restaurant staff and customers, Papa and Mama Wu both feel that dominantly Cantonese is used. Chiu Chownese is used more when they are speaking with Grandpa and Grandma Wu or the other Chiu Chownese staff within the restaurant or occasionally with Chiu Chownese customers in the restaurant. Papa Wu mentions that he is proud of the fact that he can speak Chiu Chownese, and feels an additional sense of familiarity with fellow Chiu Chownese when they are converse in Chiu Chownese. Despite not speaking the language regularly, both Papa and Mama Wu still identifies themselves with being Chiu Chownese as opposed to being a Hong Konger.
