Friend of mine told the story and she was quite knowledgeable about the whole deal even the bank that got involved with the loan and so forth, also heard it from a friends aunt who lives in the neighborhood of the restaurant.
She just had an opportunity to sell it to some folks, that promised her money needless to say and some other little goodies to go along with that, but the kicker is, and I've heard this from a few people, is that the true "behind the scene owners" of the restaurant or either Chinese or Japanese !
You've probably seen in the supermarket that she now has her own canned goods, so of course the current owners helped her with that. It's the same story that some of "us" do when we get successful. Berry Gordy sold Motown, if you've heard of beauty products called "Carol's Daugher" she did the same thing, started out small, sold the company, now her products are sold in Macy's and other major Dept stores and are offered on HSN.