A Chinese restaurant in Tucker reopened months after its owner was killed in an explosion.
Main Moon said it was able to open its doors once again on Tuesday thanks to community donations to a GoFundMe page, which raised nearly $30,000. The page was started in May after the restaurant’s owner, Mei Ying Chen, was killed by a large pressure cooker explosion, forcing the restaurant to close.
The restaurant is a family business founded by Mei and her husband Ken in 1999. Their son Jason and his wife Min also helped run Main Moon’s daily operations. Chen’s family said on Facebook, “We have no words other than thank you! Unbelievable support for our family here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”
On May 11, DeKalb County firefighters shut down Main Moon and the surrounding businesses after Chen was fatally injured by the accidental explosion. Regular customers continually left flowers outside the shuttered businesses doors, paying their respects to Chen and her family.
Douglas Reynics told the City of Tucker a friend of his was eating at a neighboring restaurant in the The Centre on Hugh Howell strip mall, which is where Main Moon is located, when the incident took place.
“A friend of mine happened to message me and said she was eating next door at (Taqueria) Los Hermanos. The art had moved on the wall and people got moved off their feet,” Reynics said, describing the aftermath of the explosion. “It was a big force.”
Reynics, a longtime Main Moon customer, messaged Chen’s daughter-in-law Min, who often works the restaurant’s cash register, as soon as he found about about the deadly explosion. He asked what could be done to help.
He started a GoFundMe page to help raise funds to cover Chen’s funeral costs and to help her family rebuild Main Moon. The page raised about $17,000 just hours after it was launched. Reynics said the GoFundMe and other donations added up to more than $36,000.
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