We just get mooncakes and eat it as a family.

If you're not having it, you're not celebrating properly.

It's a lot of work.

I sit down by my dad's side a lot of the time.

Today is August 16th, exactly a month and a few days before our mooncake celebrations.

Today we start the busy season.

We're going to make big and small mooncakes, so a total of about 600.

My name is Benson Hong.

My father owns Double Crispy Bakery.

We are a Chinese pastry-based bakery.

The most difficult part for me would be wrapping the filling with the outside layer.

If you're too hard on the skin, right, you're too rough with it, then it rips.

I have to be careful when I push it into the middle.

The outside layer on the palm of my hand doesn't break, so it takes a bit of work.

Come on.

Still needs a little work.

Not too bad.

So this machine, it's my dad's Benz.

It's a lot faster than using my hand.

This machine we start using when we start making more mass-producing mooncakes.

August 16th, China

August 15th, we usually make more than 20,000 mooncakes.

The hardest part is over there.

From 8am to around 10pm.

The most difficult part is the baking.

It's very hard to bake.

Each mooncake has 20 mooncakes.

The weight of the mooncake is so heavy, that we can't even lift it.

August 15th, China

Egg yolks resemble the moon.

August 16th, China

Mid-Autumn Festival, on the day it lands, it's believed that the moon is the brightest and most round.

August 17th, China

It's a day that a lot of Asian communities celebrate.

August 18th, China

The most important part, mooncake.

So we have red bean, white lotus, winter melon strips, and we have a mixture of nuts and seeds.

And then we have them with single egg yolks or double egg yolks.

I grew up in San Francisco.

We had mooncake festivals every year.

We'll look at the moon together.

Usually my parents would take me to Chinatown.

If I didn't have time, I'd go back to the store and buy mooncakes.

It's business.

It's a very important festival.

Everyone has to buy mooncakes.

I'm going to put them in a box for you, okay?

Ever since I started doing business,

I've never wanted a mooncake at home.

Even during the Mid-Autumn Festival,

I would buy mooncakes and come home late.

I'd sleep in the middle of the night.

So we can't really enjoy these benefits.

So we're trying to get my dad to take off Wednesday.

Because usually he takes off only Wednesdays and the mooncake season is getting busy.

He's going to not take off because we have a lot of mooncakes to make.

So we're trying to force him to just rest one day before it gets really busy and then he has really no time to take care of himself.

He never wants to take off.

He doesn't care about himself.

Yeah, he doesn't take after himself.

He puts the bakery before himself.

Today we're doing a whole full of bakery.

We got some drinks and cheese.

Me and my brother, we both went instead of our dad having to go.

I'm going back to school to the University of Buffalo tomorrow.

Just kind of doing this before I leave so that my brother doesn't have to do it by himself.

When I was younger, you know,

I would help out here and there.

Nothing major, not like now, where I'm here all the time.

I'll help out with a little stuff.

But then as we got older, and throughout COVID, we lost a lot of our staff.

Now I get to see how much he really does.

And then when I start understanding,

I want to take that stress and leave him with a lot of responsibility.

I want to take care of him.

I want to take care of him.

I want to take that stress and leave him with a lot of responsibilities.

You know, help him out however I can.

How do I say this?

I'm grateful for my son.

He worked hard to get his son back home.

That was the most difficult time for us.

Today is August 24th.

We're about a little over three weeks away from the celebration day.

We're making about over 2,000 mooncakes today.

I don't know how big that is.

We're making mooncakes.

He's doing a pretty good job.

There are about 101 mooncakes here.

Let's start making mooncakes.

Let's get started.

We're still not done with the red bean flavor.

Look, we've ran out of trays.

Do you need a hand?

Do you need a hand?

No, I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

It's a little overwhelming because it takes up pretty much the whole kitchen.

Every car is just starting to fill up.

It's not bad.

It's 6 o'clock, we're still baking, we're still going through the machine.

It's half-cooked.

The water has evaporated.

We're going to bake it one more time.

As a boss here, it's really hard work.

Everyone is doing their own thing.

It's hard to hire people.

No one wants to do this job.

I'm used to it.

I'm pretty good at baking.

I'm pretty good at cooking.

He's a nice guy.

He's an old man.

I admire his hard work.

He works every day.

We work together.

He's in charge of taking orders, buying things, counting, paying, everything.

He's a financial expert.

I'm just a chef here.

You eat first.

Don't wait for me.

What are you eating, Guo Guo?

You eat first.

I'll put the food in the back.

Eat first.

You're hungry.

Don't wait for me.

What is it, Guo Guo?

My parents work hard.

100% they work hard, no doubt.

Without my parents and my family, me and my brother, we wouldn't be where we are.

Everything we have is because of our parents.

This pot has more than 3,000 people.

More than 3,000 people.

That's more than 100 pots.

It's enough for a day.

It's enough for a day.

It's enough for a day.

It's enough for a day.

It's enough for a day.

I don't want them to do this.

It's hard, it's hard.

Let them do what they want when they're out in August.

Today we're going to be wrapping them and packing them.

Put it on.

Put it on.

Put it on.

Family, even during the bad days, you're there for each other.

My dad doesn't want me to take on this business.

I want to make things easier for my dad and also at the same time hopefully move on with my career as well.

Finishing up this order, beginning the next order and starting everything all over again.