Despite earning around $250,000 a year as a software engineer, Michelle Yeung felt very disconnected from work.
“I wanted to transition into something where I could make someone’s day better or make someone happy in some way,” he tells CNBC Make It. Rather than give up right away, he spent months exploring what might come next.
In the summer of 2024, Yeung began seriously thinking about opening a matcha cafe in Manhattan after noticing a lack of high-quality options in the city, he asked himself “Why is my matcha better?”
But Yeung wasn’t going to leave his paying job without a plan.
Michelle Yeung inside Matcha House.
Mickey Todiwala
Before leaving software engineering, he worked 5 a.m. shifts at Starbucks to learn store operations, traveled to Japan to research matcha, and saved money that he would later use to help launch the business.
Today, he runs Matcha House on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The business is likely to make a profit in its first year and gradually recover its start-up costs.
“I am happier now than before,” he said.
Working ‘undercover’ at Starbucks: ‘I was on my own little mission’
When Yeung decided that a matcha cafe would be the right next step, he began learning everything he could before leaving software engineering.
He went to Japan to learn how matcha, a drink made from finely ground green tea powder, was obtained, prepared and served. He took notes on harvesting techniques and grinding methods and experimented with different proportions of powder in water to get consistent results.
Back in New York, he persuaded his friends to test different matches and continued to research whether the store could be financially viable.
Because he had no experience working in the food industry, he says he spent “a few months” working “undercover” at Starbucks from about 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. before going into software engineering meetings later in the morning.
Michelle Yeung prepares matcha.
Mickey Todiwala
“I went alone,” said Yeung.
The renovation extended to the search for a storefront. Yeung spent months looking at properties and meeting with landlords, many of whom were reluctant to hire a first-time business owner.
Eventually, he found a small place on a side street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He later described it as “pretty perfect” – small, well-located and locally affordable.
By March 2025, Yeung had amassed more than $200,000 in savings and felt ready to leave software engineering.
The opening day brought a few surprises
Despite all the preparations, starting a business came with unexpected challenges.
Yeung says contractors often fail to complete the work they promised, leading to delays and a series of last-minute setbacks. The night before the soft opening for friends and family, the cafe was flooded.
“Behind the curtains there was continuous flooding and we had to cover them,” Yeung said.
He says he would not have opened this business without the help of friends who assembled the furniture, hung the curtains and prepared the place in the last days before the launch.
When Matcha House first opened in July 2025, Yeung often worked 12-hour days and drank every drink himself.
“For the first two months, I was confident that I would drink every drink,” she said.
Michelle Yeung in her cafe.
Mickey Todiwala
Over time, he learned to delegate some of those responsibilities. Matcha House now employs about 10 part-time workers, and Yeung no longer needs to be behind the counter every day. Looking back, Yeung said his time at Starbucks provided a crash course in the industry “in a short time” before he opened Matcha House.
The cafe is on track to turn a profit in its first year, and Yeung says he’s slowly recouping his investment to get it off the ground.
He expects to pay himself about $33,000 by 2026, while also reinvesting most of the business’ capital back into the company. He keeps his personal expenses low, spending less than $2,500 in a typical month.
“My life is less about how much money I’m making right now and less about what I do every day,” Yeung said. “We’ve been in business for a year, I’m just thankful that we’ve survived a year and we can survive another year.”
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