University of Missouri–St. Louis alum Xin Wei, owner of Corner 17 restaurant in University City, is sponsoring this year’s UMSL 5K Run and Walk on Oct. 17. He was eager to give back to the university because of the impact it had, setting him up for success after coming to the United States from China as a 17-year-old. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
The University of Missouri–St. Louis Alumni Association is preparing to welcome past graduates back to campus next month for the UMSL 5K Run/Walk on Oct. 17.
The sixth annual event will feature a new course, covering the same rolling hills and showcasing many of the same campus sites as before but beginning and ending at Alumni Circle, in the shadow of the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center. This year’s race also includes a new title sponsor: University City-based restaurant Corner 17, led by UMSL alum Xin Wei.
He is graciously providing funding for the event and also offering a 15% off discount to participants who show their bib on race day.
“We’re really excited to have Corner 17’s support for our annual UMSL 5K Run and Walk,” said Jennifer Jezek-Taussig of the Office of Alumni Engagement. “When he and I first talked a year or so ago, he told me, ‘I want to be involved. My heart is at UMSL.’ Xin had such a great experience as a student, and it’s so inspiring to hear about everything his family went through and sacrificed to prioritize his college education while he was here. He reflects the drive and determination we see in so many UMSL graduates.”
For Wei, giving back to UMSL was an easy decision.
“UMSL played an important role in my journey,” he said. “It gave me not only an education but also the confidence and the foundation to build my career here in St. Louis.”
A whole new world
Wei grew up in a low-income family in rural China. He remembers his parents toiling long hours when he was little as they struggled to keep their family afloat.
He and his older sister, Rachel, were often tasked with looking after their younger sister, Cher, while his parents were at work. There were also times when Xin and Rachel had to get up early to go collect flowers from the jasmine fields near where they lived, and they sold the flowers to make some extra money.
In 2003, Wei’s parents made the excruciating decision to uproot their three children and move across the Pacific Ocean to the United States. They settled in the St. Louis area as they searched for greater financial opportunity.
The move was far from easy – especially for their teenage son, who was just 17 at the time.
“I had no friends, I didn’t speak the language, and there was culture shock,” Wei said. “Everything was just so different. It was so different than the place that we were from. It took years for us to adapt ourselves into the new environment, new society, new culture, and everything was new.”
Wei remembers times during his first months in St. Louis when he’d go hide in a corner and cry – so intense was his desire to go back home.
His parents didn’t really have much time to confront their own emotions. They were too busy trying to make enough money to survive. With limited connections and understanding of English, they found their best chance to earn a living wage working in the kitchen at a Chinese restaurant.
Wei went with them to work enough times to know he wanted to forge a different career. He worked hard at learning English and after two years was able to earn his diploma at Belleville East High School in Illinois.
From there, with his family’s support, Wei enrolled at community college. There was never much question about his academic focus.
“My parents always said, ‘Go for business, make money,’” Wei said. “That’s what we came here for. I wanted to have a better life.”
A stranger no more
School remained challenging, and Wei still felt very isolated during his time in community college. But things started to change in 2007 when he transferred to UMSL.
“UMSL was the turning point when I finally began to feel at home in this country,” he said. “I found a lot of the Chinese international students, and I didn’t feel as alone. It kind of brought me familiar feelings of getting together with my Chinese friends again.”
Wei lived in Oak Hall during his two years at UMSL. He got involved in the Chinese Student Association and, after struggling with his own adjustment to the United States several years earlier, was able to share his experiences to help make things easier for a number of his fellow students.
He also started to feel comfortable enough on campus to branch out and make some connections beyond the Chinese community with students, both from St. Louis and other parts of the world.
In class, Wei chose to pursue a BSBA with dual emphases in finance and international business in the Ed G. Smith College of Business. He found a number of supportive faculty members and remembers Curators’ Distinguished Professor Hung-Gay Fung, chair of the Department of Finance and Legal Studies, as a mentor.
“He was my advisor, he was my mentor,” Wei said. “I don’t know if he still remembers me, but I liked him a lot.”
Wei graduated from UMSL in 2009 and landed a full-time job as a financial services representative at a bank. But he would soon find himself called, somewhat reluctantly, back into the family business.
Fulfilling a dream
Shortly after Wei’s family settled in the United States, his parents set a goal to open their own restaurant. They saved up enough money to do so, partnering with a friend to purchase a restaurant in Alabama. But within a year, after pouring all of their savings into the venture, the restaurant failed, and they returned to the St. Louis area to start over.
By 2010, Wei’s parents had saved up enough money to try again. They purchased the Joy Luck Chinese Buffet on Manchester Road in Brentwood, Missouri. They also leaned on Rachel and Xin to help them make it a success.
“At that point, I did not have a detailed plan,” Wei said. “I didn’t have a long-term goal. All I know is my parents are running the restaurant. They need help. I need to come back to help build the business.”
The lessons Wei received while studying at UMSL – in communication, management and business analytics – surely helped him as he contributed to the day-to-day operations of the restaurant.
Wei had also learned to spot an opportunity. He remembers walking along Delmar Boulevard in the University City Loop one day and noticing all the college students – including quite a few international students from Asia – who were strolling the sidewalks.
He did a little research and learned that the student population at nearby Washington University in St. Louis had been on the rise, and he thought they might welcome a Chinese restaurant in the area.
Wei convinced his parents to open Corner 17 in a small storefront. The name was meant to serve as a nod to his personal and family history.
“We want to remember the times when we were in China, and then 17, the turning point,” he said. “Corner 17 is a reminder of where we came from. No matter how far you go or how successful you become, never forget the road that brought you here. Stay humble.”
An entrepreneurial eye
Corner 17 started as a takeout restaurant and was intended to provide Chinese college students with some familiar flavors they might be missing.
“A lot of Chinese students, they’re homesick,” Wei said. “They don’t have a lot of traditional, authentic Chinese cuisine.”
The menu he and his family conceived was built around traditional Chinese street food, particularly handmade noodles and dumplings. They also sold boba tea, a popular Taiwanese drink made with milk, sweetened tea and chewy tapioca pearls.
Almost immediately, the restaurant found an audience with more than just international students.
Corner 17 had been operating with strong sales for about a year when the restaurant next door shut down. Wei convinced his parents they should take over that space and add a dining room to keep up with the growing demand.
With Wei playing a lead role, Corner 17 has continued to adapt and expand.
“We keep changing, rotating,” he said. “This I learned from UMSL in class. You just have to embrace the change. You just have to keep changing yourself in order to adapt what is out there.”
Wei himself went back to school in 2019 to pursue his Executive MBA at Washington University. With his extra business training, he helped Corner 17 weather the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has continued to thrive since.
Over the past few years, Wei has stepped back from day-to-day operations of a single restaurant and is focused on long-term growth. In 2023, the restaurant opened a satellite location – Corner 17 at Whispers Café – in the John M. Olin Library at Washington University. Earlier this year, Corner 17 expanded again with a counter in the new Dierbergs Market at Olive Boulevard and I-170.
Corner 17 is also in the process of building a central kitchen facility that can supply food to all of its locations.
For Wei, the goal is not simply to open more restaurants but to build an organization that can grow sustainably while maintaining the food and culture that made Corner 17 successful.
“He is such a savvy businessperson,” Jezek-Taussig said. “I have great respect for him and Corner 17 as an UMSL alumni-owned business.”
Wei is grateful his success has allowed him to stay connected to and support his alma mater, including with the Alumni 5K.
“I’m supporting the UMSL 5K because it brings students, alumni and the community here in St. Louis together for something that’s positive,” he said. “For me, giving back is also a way to say thank you and help to create more opportunities for the next generation of UMSL students.”
The UMSL 5K Run and Walk will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 17. To register for the event, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/MO/SaintLouis/UMSLAlumniRunWalk. All proceeds from the 5k Run/Walk will benefit the UMSL Athletics Department.
