Noodle restaurant crowdfunds after being locked out of market stall

Employees of a noodle restaurant are crowdfunding to find a new home after being locked out of their market stall by a former director.

Staff members of Daily Noodles, who currently trade from a cargo unit in Wapping Wharf, arrived at their St Nick’s premises in August to find the locks had been changed.

They initially thought Bristol City Council was responsible, but later discovered their former director, Larkin Cen, had taken this action.

“The action was completely shocking and devastating”, said the restaurant’s current directors in a joint statement to Bristol24/7.

Cen did not respond to multiple requests for comment by Bristol24/7.

Larkin Cen was one of the directors of Take a Bao, the franchisor of Daily Noodles – photo: Visit Bristol

Daily Noodles, a franchisee of Take A Bao, continued to have Cen’s name as a trade licensee for its St Nick’s site even after his resignation as a director from the business in October 2024.

In December of the same year, the franchisor’s only remaining director, Robert (Bob) Clark, handed over Daily Noodles to its employees, creating an employee-owned company where all full-time staff had shares in the business.

The current directors said: “Cen remained a shareholder but stepped away from management, due to concerns over his family life, expressing support and goodwill toward the staff in his farewell email.”

In the following six months, staff members made futile attempts to transfer the trading licence of the St Nick’s stall from Cen to the Daily Noodles’ current directors, a change they say Cen “could have easily done under the terms of the license”.

However on August 1, staff members arrived at the St Nick’s site to find the locks changed.

“Cen emailed the directors claiming that the council had ordered trading to cease and that the locks had been changed,” said the restaurant’s current directors.

They added: “It was later discovered that this was false — he himself had changed the locks, not the council.

“Given Cen’s previous comments, the action was completely shocking and devastating.”

Daily Noodles opened in Wapping Wharf in 2023 and became fully employee-owned in December 2024 – photo: Bristol24/7

With Cen’s new business XO Eats UK now operating from the St Nick’s premises, the Daily Noodles staff are looking are looking for a new site and are crowdfunding to raise £70,000.

The money will go into helping the staff find and build a new site with indoor and outdoor seating, rehire a team and keep an employee-owned business alive in Bristol.

Describing the St Nick’s site as “part of our story” on the crowdfunder page, the team added: “It was where we greeted regulars, built lasting relationships, and became part of the market’s vibrant community.

“Losing access meant losing the heart of what we had built — and a main source of income that sustained our team and business.”

Larkin Cen, a former lawyer and MasterChef  finalist, was involved in a string of Asian food businesses before Daily Noodles.

This included Woky Ko and Kaiju in Wapping Wharf, Hokkei in Cardiff, and Cen (now PAD) at the Celtic Manor Hotel in Newport.

Cen’s newly opened XO Eats UK previously traded in Swansea before its arrival at the former Daily Noodles site in St Nick’s Market.

A new site, the Daily Noodles staff said, is crucial for them to continue operations.

They added: “Without a new site soon, our business will not survive.

“That would mean closing our doors for good — ending an employee-owned venture that gives local people the chance to share directly in the success of their work.

“We’re actively searching for the right location, and if you know of a potential site, please get in touch.”

Main photo: Karen Johnson

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• New restaurant Daily Noodles to be opened by Woky Ko founder