VISIONARY FOUNDER. STRATEGIC PARTNERS. SOLID SALES.

To create Tin Drum Asian Kitchen, Steven Chan drew on the energy of the streets of Hong Kong, where he lived as a child, and developed menu items to appeal to Americans who had adventurous palates and were seeking new and bold flavors. His first restaurant was on the Georgia Tech campus, his alma mater, where he had studied architecture. He joined with BIP Capital, majority owner of the Tropical Smoothie Café franchise, in order to prepare the brand for future growth.” Read Steven’s Bio

VISIONARY FOUNDER. STRATEGIC PARTNERS. SOLID SALES.

To create Tin Drum Asian Kitchen, Steven Chan drew on the energy of the streets of Hong Kong, where he lived as a child, and developed menu items to appeal to Americans who had adventurous palates and were seeking new and bold flavors. His first restaurant was on the Georgia Tech campus, his alma mater, where he had studied architecture. In 2012, he joined with BIP Capital, majority owner of the Tropical Smoothie Café franchise, in order to prepare the brand for future growth.” Read Steven’s Bio

When you become a Tin Drum Franchise Owner, you become the face of the brand for your customers and the community. And we don’t make you do it on your own. You will receive comprehensive training and ongoing support from experts in the fast-casual franchise restaurant community.

Tin Drum’s open theatre-style kitchen invites customers to experience the excitement of hand-crafted Asian cooking. Tin Drum serves Asia’s greatest hits. They are made fresh and can be customized with different spices and levels of heat.

These bold and less ordinary flavors cost an ordinary amount – making our franchises competitive in the market. Our fresh-to-order food satisfies both our take out and dine in customers, which split around 50% each.

Tin Drum provides highly developed systems and measures for superior ease of operations and maximized efficiencies and economics. Systems include everything from inventory and scheduling to forecasting and real time sales and labor. A highlight of these systems is our tablet-based guide that gives owners, employees, and managers daily to-do lists, guides them through kitchen walks, recipes and more. It even monitors food safety and operates and monitors all of the labeling controls making every day easy for the whole staff and insuring fresh and safe products.

Steven Chan
Founder and CEO

A 20-year veteran of the restaurant industry, Steven Chan brought the mind-spinning energy of Asian sidewalk eating to Atlanta with Tin Drum Asian Kitchen in 2003. His urban upbringing in Hong Kong inspired the pan-Asian restaurant concept that now has 11 locations throughout the Atlanta area. As the company’s founder and CEO, Chan spearheads the vision for Tin Drum and serves as the chief designer of the brand.

Chan champions the legend of the Tin Drummer, the tale of a young man who became an unsung hero of the community by the simple act of serving people and showing hard work alone can make a difference. In Tin Drum, Chan imagined a place where the everyman is served delicious and comforting food on the go by Tin Drummers. Thus, Tin Drum was born at Georgia Tech Technology Square – a serendipitous location that serves students of Chan’s alma mater along with Atlanta’s Midtown residents. By 2011, the brand began franchising.

Formally trained as an architect at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Chan excels at ideation and design in the hospitality typology, believing it plays an irreplaceable role in human and societal connectivity. His passion is on full display at Tin Drum, where guests instinctively feel the hustle and bustle of a classic Hong Kong-style curbside café. For the future, Chan believes in continuous research in order to keep the brand fresh from the ever-changing retail revolution.

Under Chan’s leadership, Tin Drum’s mission is to team with fellow franchise partners in bringing great, affordable food in an enticing environment to Atlanta and the Southeast. Chan is also a co-founder of Pancake Social, an all-day brunch concept with its debut location at Atlanta’s famed Ponce City Market.

Chan is a lifelong music and architecture aficionado. He passionately explores buildings while listening to the music of David Sylvian, constantly drawing stimulations to enhance human experience within his projects. At home, Chan spends much of his time reading in his gallery.

Altaf Popatiya
Partner and COO

Altaf Popatiya is a young entrepreneur whose mission is to guide his various businesses by providing both financial & operational expertise. Popatiya continues to invest in new ventures where he uses his expertise to unleash each company’s maximum growth potential.

Most recently, Altaf has taken on the role of Chief Operating Officer and partner of Tin Drum Asian Kitchen. In this role, he is responsible for leading the overall operations for all Tin Drum restaurants in Atlanta, Savannah and Houston.

Altaf, along with his wife Amisha Popatiya, have been part of the restaurant since 2016 and are now shareholders in Tin Drum. They began with owning and operating Tin Drum restaurants in Sandy Springs, Newnan and Decatur, Ga. Their passion for Tin Drum and interest in the evolution of the restaurant industry led them to invest in the company.

The Popatiya’s founded ASN Milan Investments to grow their investments not only in Tin Drum but in real estate, entertainment and other restaurants. Popatiya’s entrepreneurial spirit and desire to guide others has allowed him to also help other entrepreneurs unleash their potentials.

Popatiya graduated with a degree in Business and Commerce from Osmania University in India. Popatiya is active in the Georgia Restaurant Association. He and his wife live in Fayetteville, Ga.

Amisha Popatiya
Director of Marketing

Amisha Popatiya is the director of marketing for Tin Drum Asian Kitchen. She is responsible for leading the overall brand marketing strategy and new product introductions for all Tin Drum restaurants, as well as manage the marketing strategy for new restaurant openings.

Popatiya is a longtime expert on the Tin Drum brand. Amisha, along with her husband Altaf Popatiya, have been part of the restaurant since 2016 and are now shareholders in Tin Drum. They began with owning and operating Tin Drum restaurants in Sandy Springs, Newnan and Decatur, Ga. Their passion for Tin Drum and interest in the evolution of the restaurant industry led them to invest in the company.

After a career as a nurse at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Popatiya shifted gears and began building businesses she was passionate about. In 2016, she and her husband founded ASN Milan Investments to grow their investments in the Atlanta market in industries such as real estate, entertainment and restaurants. In addition to Tin Drum, Popatiya has part-ownership in a local chain of salons, Unique Threading & Body Wax, founded in 2010.

Popatiya Amisha attended Cornell University studying strategic marketing and also holds an undergraduate Nursing degree from Shorter College. Popatiya is active in the Georgia Restaurant Association and the Women’s Foodservice Forum. She and her husband live in Fayetteville, Ga.

Matt Schinelli
Director of Business Development

Matt Schinelli is director of business development for Tin Drum Asian Kitchen. He oversees all operations under the franchise umbrella, including strategic growth, analytics, real estate development and site selection, and financing. He is also responsible for leading recruiting and onboarding for all new Tin Drum’s franchisees.

Schinelli has more than 25 years of restaurant experience and is an expert on the Tin Drum brand. He became the first Tin Drum franchisee and opened the Dunwoody, Ga., restaurant in 2006. He then went on to open two additional Atlanta-area restaurants and became a shareholder in the company in 2012. For 10 years, he worked in various roles for Tin Drum including his current role as director of business development.

Before joining the Tin Drum team, Schinelli worked for Autarchic Opportunity Consulting, Hospitality Partners, Margaritaville, and was owner of Graffiti and Funky Blues Shack, a favorite hangout for locals near Destin, Fla.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Schinelli attended the Art Institute of Colorado and Scottsdale Community College. He currently lives in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. When he’s not busy building relationships to grow the Tin Drum brand, Schinelli enjoys spending time with his young daughter, fishing, beaching, and boating.

The Tin Drummer Story

In ancient Asian culture, there was the “Tin Drummer”, a part newscaster and part wake-up caller. Each morning, he walked the streets banging a tin drum, gathering people at the lively café to fuel their bodies with food and their minds with current news. He became a legend, an unsung hero who connected people by the simple and unrelenting act of doing.

Today, we at Tin Drum celebrate the legend of the Tin Drummer, who showed us hard work alone can make a difference. We all are equal and possess the magic potential ready to unleash – “The Same Sun Shines Equally On Those Beneath.” Tin Drum Asian Kitchen provides a break to the everyday to everyone. It is a place to explore LESS ORDINARY through continental Asian products, urban curbside environment, and the life story of the Tin Drummer.