Health-Inspired Menu, Better-for-you Options

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Alan Moy, owner of Viet Nom Nom, located in Evanston, IL, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Viet Nom Nom is a fast-casual restaurant & multi-operation food service company based in Evanston, IL. We started our concept in 2015 and opened our first brick & mortar location in 2017. Our menu is Vietnamese-inspired, as we put our modern, unique fingerprint on traditional Vietnamese dishes, like Banh Mi & Beef Pho, to appeal to all walks of life while offering customers better-for-you food.

We prepare all meals & recipes the NOM Way -- in-house and responsibly with fresh produce, local ingredients, rich flavors, and thoughtful consideration of customer health and the many growing dietary needs of today's modern diners. We have an acute focus on serving a predominantly gluten-friendly and dairy-free menu, while we also offer a number of recipes, entrees, and proteins that are fully vegan. All of our sauces & marinades, for instance, have been developed with gluten-friendly ingredients & recipes -- and, even for items like Banh Mi that are traditionally prepared with gluten, we offer alternative gluten-friendly options to bread with salad & rice bowl bases.

While we firmly believe there's a place for all types of food perspectives, we simply believe food can and should be BOTH healthy & tasty. As we highlight as many local & high-quality ingredients as possible, our menu features fresh takes on classic recipes to ensure consumption can be sustainable on a daily basis.

Outside of our kitchen, we're extremely committed to being active leaders in the community. When we first started in 2015, we committed to 2 company pillars addressing systemic issues in our community: the lack of career pathways for minority youths + food insecurity. Throughout the last 6+ years in business, we have regularly partnered with community organizations to develop youth internship & mentorship programs and provide thousands of meals to local shelters, pantries, and families. Our very first several hires, for example, were through Curt's Cafe's culinary training program for young adults in at-risk situations. We partnered early on with A Just Harvest's food pantry to provide unsold grab & go meals.

Those two partnerships created the foundation for several new and ongoing programs we have in the community, including our internship program with Youth Job Center and my active role with the Evanston Mayor's Employer Advisory Council. On a personal level, these focus areas are intrinsically meaningful to me. Serving food is my passion, but serving the community is the ultimate way that I honor my family's legacy. I am proud to be a 3rd generation restaurant owner. My grandfather was a Chinese immigrant and came to the US chasing the American dream, eventually able to open his own restaurant as a means for both survival & livelihood for our family. And my parents later put their teaching careers on pause to open a restaurant as they sought to build a bigger future for our family. In the same year, they built our family home in Downers Grove, had me, and opened our family's restaurant -- I was literally raised in my family's restaurant. All roads have always led to my dream of having my own restaurant. But, more than just making food and serving others, I strive to honor my family, including my late grandparents and late mother, by using Viet Nom Nom as a medium for good.

And, during the last year, in particular, our efforts have been amplified and, in many cases, have served as the focal point of our operations. We've joined forces with Cook County, Connections for the Homeless, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, The Hatchery, and several other local non-profits to serve over 10,000 meals to frontline workers and families in need during the pandemic!

Tell us about yourself

I am proud to be a 3rd generation restaurant owner. My grandfathers paved the way for our family by immigrating to this country as young men and quickly enlisting in the US Army to build their futures. Without speaking any English or formal education, they worked especially hard to be able to start their own small businesses finally. They literally pursued and achieved the American dream. And, you could sort of say that food has always been in my DNA, as my maternal grandfather owned a restaurant in his later years. I was literally raised in my parents' restaurant.

The same year when I was born, my parents also built my childhood home and opened a restaurant -- I was born into a world of exciting frenzy, and having grown up within the confines of the family restaurant, I fell in love with food. I was inspired by my parents' hard work and tenacity to do business the "right way."

All roads have always led to my dream path of having my own restaurant. And, every day, I strive to honor my family, including my late grandparents and mother, by using Viet Nom Nom as a medium for good -- serving food is a passion, but using food to help others has been a pillar of our model & operations.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

With this pandemic the last two years, we've not only kept our doors open, but we've grown and kept everyone healthy & employed. When the pandemic first hit Chicago hard in March of 2020, we temporarily closed from mid-March through all of May 2020. All of our growth plans for new operations were put on indefinite pause. But, we were able to re-open our operations at the beginning of June 2020. And, from there, we really took off. We were fortunate to continue our growth plans. We expanded from 1 location to 4 in just three months between July-September of 2020. It's wild to think back to how we opened a new location once per month for three months straight. We opened a commissary & ghost kitchen at The Hatchery, a food & beverage incubator, in Chicago, along with a new kiosk location at Dr. Murphy's Food Hall. And, then we finally opened our food court location at Northwestern University's Norris Center.

Needless to say, we were very fortunate to not only survive but also grow again. And, all the while, we kept our entire team gainfully employed, and we didn't have a single employee contract covid-19. Our new operations and pivots allowed us to distance from customers and within the team in almost all settings. We're forever indebted to our wonderful community partners for helping us achieve these successes & milestones.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Honestly, I think the hardest aspect of being a business owner is loving what you do and finding enough balance to juggle your business and personal life. I've been far from perfect being able to consistently balance everything, but I really could not imagine firing on all cylinders more often than not if I didn't truly love making food, serving others, and the challenge of growing my business. My business is a passion for me. Sometimes I wonder how this could all be done if I didn't love doing what I do -- the products (food in my case), the fast pace, the privilege of employing & leading team members, the euphoria of opening new locations & operations, etc. If you don't have an intrinsic love for your business, I think it would be very hard to ride all the up & down waves of owning a business.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1.) Never be in a position of "need." If you "need" something, it might be too late. Get ahead of your needs. You can never get too far ahead strategizing and planning. You certainly need always to prioritize immediate needs first, but you'll always be in a better position partnering with others if you're "ask" is ahead of a need.
2.) Partnership means everything. Whether you're a solo executive or you have a few other founders with you, you can't do it all. It's so important to find ways to have partners that can serve as meaningful extensions of your business. This doesn't just mean "sales partners" -- service providers, community organizations, etc., can help you broaden your reach and ensure you can handle the constant juggling act as an entrepreneur.
3.) Empathy. Being an entrepreneur, especially with employees, means you have to constantly step outside of yourself and try to understand others and where you have NOT been. You can't literally walk in someone's shoes, but you have to find common ground as much as possible and extend even more patience than you've ever had when it comes to leading and caring for your team -- and other folks in your business circles. Regardless of your industry or trade, your business will always be a "people business." And, you have to treat and appreciate this delicately, putting people first at all times.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.eatvietnomnom.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatvietnomnom
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatvietnomnom/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eatvietnomnom
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanmoy/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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