The first Sunrise Restaurant was founded on July 22, 1987 on the Southside of Savannah, GA. Located in a tiny space on Hodgson Memorial Drive; Paul Yao (co-owner) would be working the grill while Agnes Yao (co-owner) would wait on the customers. Their kids—Melissa, Christina, and Serena– would straggle into the restaurant at 5 a.m. and sit and wait for school to start, often taking a taxi or catching a local bus. In the beginning, the Yao family would keep track of the number of customers by counting the forks that were left in the silverware drawer.

The concept for Sunrise began many years before its opening when Paul and Agnes learned the breakfast trade from Paul’s parents who owned and operated Ham and Eggs on Tybee Island, GA. Ham and Eggs was a small breakfast nook on Butler Avenue that served its food on Styrofoam plates and the menu was printed on a board above the grill. From there, Paul and Agnes thought that they could capitalize on cooking good, substantial breakfasts in an open kitchen and bring that concept to the Southside of Savannah. Thus, Sunrise Restaurant was born.

The high-quality breakfast caught the ears (and taste buds!) of the Savannah Morning News on February 5, 1988 when they featured Sunrise in a review that claimed that “the omelettes are the specialty of the house.” From that day, business picked up as word of delicious omelettes spread throughout the city. Sunrise was then expanded to a second location on Tybee Island on February 22, 1990, located at the site of the former Dragon Palace Restaurant. The new Sunrise Tybee brought new challenges to the Yao family since the space seated approximately 150 people—five times the size of Sunrise Southside! Undaunted, the family continued to provide good food and friendly service to all customers.

During the 1990s, Paul and Agnes felt that it was a good time to expand their businesses and introduce Savannah to new culinary experiences. In the span of a few short years, they opened Yao’s Mongolian BBQ (Savannah), Ichiban Japanese Restaurant (Savannah and Charleston), and Mr. Paul’s Steakhouse (Port Wentworth). By 2000, Paul and Agnes decided that breakfast was truly their culinary passion and sold the other restaurants to make way for another breakfast place. On October 4, 2002, Sunrise Wilmington Island opened its doors with 80 seats.

The newest addition to the Sunrise family is Sunrise Chatham Parkway, which opened on October 18, 2005, at Southern Oaks Centre in Chatham Parkway. In addition to the legendary breakfast that Sunrise is known for; this location also serves an expanded lunch menu, Monday – Friday, with daily hot lunch specials (meet & 3 sides) as well as a soup and salad bar.

All of the Sunrise Restaurants are still proudly owned and operated by the Yao family. Markus Hille, Melissa’s husband, is the proprietor of Sunrise Chatham Parkway, making Agnes very proud that someone in the family has followed in her footsteps.