July 31, 2023
Restaurateur Larry Morrow Opens ‘Sun Chong’ In The French Quarter As An Ode To His Maternal Grandmother
A 32-year-old restaurant owner has aspirations to be “one of the largest Black-owned hospitality groups in the South,” with several eateries opening up before the end of 2023; he is well on his way!
According to NOLA.com, Larry Morrow, the owner of New Orleans’ French Quarter restaurant, Sun Chong, plans to open six places by the end of this year. But he is not stopping there, as he has more expansive plans for 2024.
Sun Chong, located in the French Quarter at 240 Decatur Street, is named for his 69-year-old maternal grandmother. Morrow says that many of her Korean recipes are used on the menu at the restaurant.
He credits his business acumen to family, specifically his grandmother and mother.
“My mom’s an entrepreneur,” he states. “My grandmother’s an entrepreneur. I have strong women in my life, and that’s made me strong, too.”
Morrow told AfroTech that he started as an entrepreneur when he produced entertainment industry events under his moniker, Larry Morrow Events. He was recently featured on “Earn Your Leisure,” where he talked about some lessons he learned up to this point in his career.
At 22, he opened Larry’s Poboys & Wings. Although it lasted only a short time, that business taught him some things that helped him avoid the mistakes from the first opening.
“Learning from when I was 22, it helped prepare for when I opened up Morrow’s,” Morrow said. “I knew I needed more reserves, and I was just mentally in a better place. I was much more mature than 22 years old.
“I opened up Morrow’s, it was like a line out the door, and I’m like, ‘Oh sh-t, we on to something.”
Now, Morrow says that he has conceptualized five different restaurants and a club. Along with the burgeoning restaurants, he is also involved in real estate. He bought his first property with $39,000 in cash, so we will be seeing more of Morrow in the near and distant future.
