When Jeni He took over Alice's Tea Cup, a well-known neighborhood tea shop on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the business was already facing significant challenges.

Once a beloved local institution with multiple locations, the brand had struggled to recover from the pandemic and mounting financial pressures.

"I didn't want to see the brand disappear," He told China Daily. "It has been part of the neighborhood for more than 20 years."

Founded in 2001 by sisters Lauren and Haley Fox, Alice's Tea Cup quickly became a neighborhood favorite. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the whimsical tea shop built a loyal following for its afternoon tea sets, fresh-baked scones and storybook charm.

Over the years, it grew into a local institution, attracting celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Conan O'Brien, Katie Holmes, John Oliver and Bernadette Peters while drawing generations of families and visitors. At its peak, the brand expanded to three locations across Manhattan.

The business had already been under pressure in the years leading up to the ownership change. Like many hospitality businesses in New York, Alice's Tea Cup struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, when indoor dining restrictions and shifting regulations disrupted operations.

Although the company received federal relief funding, the challenges persisted, including staffing shortages, rising costs and the difficulty of adapting a concept built around indoor tea service to outdoor dining. At one point, the workforce shrank significantly as employees left the city during lockdowns.

By 2024, the company was facing mounting financial difficulties, with reports of substantial unpaid bills. The founders said the business had never fully recovered from the pandemic, eventually leading them to seek new ownership to keep the brand alive.

"When we first opened, it felt like everything we wanted to see in a neighborhood restaurant was what everyone else wanted to see, and it felt very rewarding and gave us such a community," Haley Fox, co-founder of Alice's Tea Cup, told China Daily.

She added, "Over the years we've watched children grow up and throw their showers remembering how we threw their birthday parties — there's no feeling to replace the pride from that."

Fox said that although the transition in ownership was bittersweet, she trusted the new owner to continue the brand.

For He, taking over the business was both a professional decision and a personal commitment to preserving a neighborhood gathering place. Entrepreneurship, she said, was something she had always been drawn to.

"I never really imagined myself working for someone else," she said. "Even before finishing college, I felt a regular job probably wouldn't suit me."

Her path into the restaurant industry was also shaped by family experience. Her father immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s and initially settled in New York's Chinatown before moving the family to a small town in Pennsylvania in search of a quieter environment and better education opportunities for his children. He later opened a Chinese restaurant there.

Growing up in that environment, He became familiar with the rhythms of the service industry from an early age.

Like many small business owners, she said running the tea shop has involved a range of challenges, from rising rents to operational pressures. Running the business has also required difficult decisions. When He took over the brand in 2024, Alice's Tea Cup had three locations, all operating at a loss.

"To save the business, I had to close two stores so that the remaining one could survive," she said.

The move helped stabilize operations, allowing the remaining location to become profitable after months of losses. She described the decision as painful but necessary.

"If you try to keep all three open, they will all fail," she said. "Sometimes you have to cut one part to save the whole."

Tucked along a quiet Upper West Side street, the shop offers more than 50 varieties of tea alongside afternoon tea sets with freshly baked scones, finger sandwiches and sweet treats.

Building on that recovery, He is now exploring ways to expand the brand beyond its current location. She said plans are underway to develop an online store so customers outside New York can purchase the tea, responding to frequent requests from visitors.

She is also considering franchising opportunities, with at least one agreement already in place for a new location in New Jersey.

While challenges remain, He said most of her day-to-day interactions with customers have been overwhelmingly positive. Community support, in particular, has been a major source of motivation, she added.

"Many customers thanked me for keeping the store open," she said. "They told me they grew up coming here as children."

One moment that stayed with her involved two elderly customers.

"They were probably in their 70s or 80s," she said. "They asked if I was the new owner."

After confirming her identity, the women gave her a small gift — a pair of Christmas-themed gloves and a scarf.

"They said they had been coming here for more than 20 years and were grateful that the store was still open," she said.

Moments like that reminded her of the role the tea shop plays in the neighborhood.

"A place like this is not just about tea," she said. "People come here to celebrate birthdays, baby showers, or simply sit down and relax."