Nancy Chen says four years on the pair still meet with some opposition.

"The other day we met some Chinese elders and they went through and shook hands with my dad and my brother and they didn't shake my hand, they skipped over me," she says.

However, under the sisters' management Mr Chen's has thrived, growing from a turnover of $6 million a year to employing a staff of 20 and turning over $15 million a year.

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Mr Chen's dumplings are now  in Woolworths and Coles around Australia as well as independent supermarkets with Chinese New Year on Tuesday the busiest time of the year for the business.

Mr Chen's makes and imports more than 40 types of dumplings along with other products such as dried shrimp and taro but the sisters say prawn har gow is the most popular product "by far".

"Dumplings are difficult to make and they take a lot of time to make and you eat them so fast so they're a good thing to buy," Lucy Chen says. "We do a lot of product development."

The sisters started at a young age in the family business their parents started over 35 years ago.

"Our parents came to Australia as refugees from Vietnam and they started the business from the housing commission flats in Richmond [Melbourne] which is where we were living at the time," Lucy Chen says."We grew up in the family business [and] in the school holidays we would always be there driving the forklift illegally. Mum and Dad wanted a better life for us, they said 'Go to university, get a job, don't come into the business'."

Nancy Chen forged a career in IT consulting and Lucy Chen in engineering but after having children the sisters came back to Mr Chen's and saw the opportunity to expand the business.

"Mum and Dad are immigrants so they know what the Asian market wants but because we were brought up here we can see what will work in the Australian market," says Lucy Chen.

"Dumplings have just gone nuts in Australia, I think it is because Australians love trying new things and are so well travelled. Historically, in the freezer section it has been dim sims, money bags and fried spring rolls for the last 20 years and people are saying they don't want to eat that stuff anymore. Dumplings are seen as a healthier option."

Mr Chen's dumplings are handmade and it takes six months to master making them properly.

It's this high quality along with product innovation which the sisters say has driven demand for Mr Chen's.

Now their father is happy to let the sisters take the lead in the business.

"I don't think he thought we would do that well," says Nancy Chen. "Nobody did."

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