Today we’d like to introduce you to Hien Nguyen.
Hi Hien, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I moved to the US in Sept 2024, to Astoria because my husband lives and works here. Soon i realized this little town didn’t have big Asian community. Some days i craved for a good bowl of pho but it was hard to find. I’d grown up and lived in Vietnam for more than 30 years, so one morning during winter, i thought it would be great for me to open a food truck, spread my love of Vietnamese food and coffee to ppl here, and it would be a good way to know more about the community.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It was rough at the beginning. I had no ideas about how the systems worked. There were so many paperwork and research involved. As a new immigrant, i had to learn a lot of terms and met with authorities to learn. And all the labor work put in the food cart. I have had a lot of help and support from my husband. Because my budget was small, we found an old food trailer and tried to look for all distributors that fit our budget. We tried to comply all the regulations, health and fire department. We hired a company to install fire suppression system but they did it wrong, caused a delay on my openning date. Then came the food. At first i had broken rice with pork chop in the menu, but it didn’t work out well so i removed it out of the menu. I stayed up late everyday to look through what i did well and what i didn’t. Some days we went home at 2am and discussed until 3am
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I serve comfort Vietnamese food (pho, banh mi and vermicelli bowl) and Vietnamese coffee out of my food truck. Beside the hope of adding more selection here in Astoria, i love to get to know the community better. When i first moved here i didn’t know anyone, i guess culture and language barrier were a big issue, however since i started my food cart, locals have come, introduced themselves, said hi frequently, a lot of customers now turn to friends and they listen to me, let me take care of them, and they take care of me, that makes me feel happy and special because of the love i’ve received.
Starting my food cart at the location where i am right now is a good start. It’s called The Lot with other 6 other food trucks. They are all good chefs whom i can learn from, they feed me often, they take care of me when my husband is not around.
Recently my banh mi and vermicelli bowl are most ordered items. My food is not 100% like Vietnamese food that you are familiar in the US. For example, my banh mi doesnt have pate, my pho doesnt go with raw beef, but it’s my way to share to ppl Vietnamese food are different in every region, from north to south. Southern pho served with a bunch of garnish, very strong aromatic smell, meanwhile northern pho is expected to have light and clear broth, without beansprout nor basil.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
in f&b i guess it’s trial and error. I tried my broken rice, didn’t go well, i excluded it. I tried my vermicelli bowl, ppl like it so i have it on my menu. I put a big drink menu below my order window to get ppl notice about the coffee, it has worked well.
And since i started my food cart journey, i now have friends that work in restaurants and food carts too, whom i could ask for advices and help anytime. They don’t mind giving advice, looking at my kitchen to help to improve wait time, sharing things with me when i’m lack of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://saigon-street-eats-astoria.square.site
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1E6ay6NFYE/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/3c7RMYdLG0
