Who is Nadia Liu Spellman married to? All about her husband and family amid meteoric rise of Dumpling Daughter

Nadia Liu Spellman, the CEO of Dumpling Daughter who spent nearly $120,000 to launch her business, is married to Kyle Spellman, her childhood sweetheart. Liu's family members helped her with two loans that covered the majority of the capital for her business. In a recent episode of CNBC's Make it that was released on Saturday, December 30, 2023, the 41-year-old spoke about her business endeavor.

Liu launched the first outlet of her Dumpling Daughter restaurant in her hometown of Weston, Massachusetts. Interestingly, she comes from a family of restaurant owners. Her parents ran a popular fine-dining Chinese eatery in Boston, called Sally Ling’s. In fact, she grew up watching them host and serve celebrities like Yo-Yo Ma and Julia Child.

Liu learned about legitimate Chinese cuisine from her family’s restaurant business, which later inspired her to start her own frozen food chain. The foods in Dumpling Daughter were primarily based on her parents’ recipes. Currently, she sells factory-made frozen dumplings. Furthermore, her products are shipped to grocery stores and e-commerce websites for purchase.

Nadia Liu Spellman's business currently brings in over $4.5 million a year. There are three Dumpling Daughter stores in the Boston area, with Nadia claiming that over 4,000 dumplings are sold every day. Most of her income comes from these frozen food restaurants.

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More about Nadia Liu Spellman's family and Dumpling Daughter

Not much is known about Nadia Liu Spellman's husband, Kyle. As per his LinkedIn profile, he owns Heirloom Restaurant and is a partner at Spellman Ventures. Interestingly, both Liu and Kyle went to Weston High School.

Following this, Kyle went to Northeastern University in Boston. Liu, on the other hand, pursued Business Management and Entrepreneurship as her Bachelor’s at Babson College.

From Kyle's Facebook profile, it can be seen that he has an interest in golf and also spends time on the golf course with his wife, Liu.

Nadia Liu Spellman modeled Dumpling Daughter in a less glamorous way than her parent’s restaurant, Sally Ling’s. Her father advised her not to open a high-end restaurant if she pursued a career in the food industry. Instead, he suggested that Liu create a business model that could bring in more sales without requiring her presence all the time.

Liu initially moved to New York City, where she worked in finance. After five years of working in The Big Apple, she realized that she liked cooking and presiding over restaurants rather than being at the office. She told CNBC:

“As you get older, you think about [the] highlight moments of your childhood, and in a way, I really wanted to relive those moments. I also wanted to pay respect to my parents’ [legacy].”

She quit her job in 2008 and ventured out on a new journey in life, with only $97 as her bank balance. Liu later moved in with her mother. For two years, she worked as Sally Ling’s general manager and used her observational skills to garner a business plan for a “quick service” restaurant.

While referring to three months after opening the first outlet, the Dumpling Daughter CEO said there were lines outside the door as well as around the building:

“There were moments that I would just stand in the walk-in freezer and cry for 30 seconds...and go back out because there were 40 people...waiting for food.”

Nadia Liu Spellman’s Dumpling Daughter grew considerably in 2020 during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her team launched an e-commerce website for customers to directly order frozen dumplings from. As of now, her store has three outlets in Brookline, Weston, and South Boston.