He recently opened a flagship spa in the same building complex as the San Gabriel Hilton, featuring a beauty salon, facial treatments and VIP foot massage rooms.
Lau was unpopular among his rivals for landing on the scene two years ago, offering foot rubs for $15 an hour. The standard price had been twice as much.
Yet he persuaded 19 other foot massage operators to join him last month to form the association.
Lau's first move was hiring Daniel Deng, a prominent local attorney. Deng is arranging meetings with Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park), who has shown interest in establishing new guidelines.
Deng and Lau hope the association will encourage other foot massage operators to band together and establish standards that can boost their leverage the same way the acupuncture and Chinese restaurant industries have tried to do.
"They need to educate before they enforce," Deng said. "These are legitimate businesses."
Caught in the middle are some of the workers, who see foot massage as a path to a better life.
Jack Xia is a former marketing manager from Shandong province in China who now works at one of Lau's establishments in Rowland Heights. The 44-year-old father of one hopes to secure a green card and bring his wife and 13-year-old son to the U.S.
"I used to work at a restaurant, but it was too hard," said Xia through a Chinese interpreter.
"I'm doing this for my family. I miss them very much."
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david.pierson@latimes.com
