50 years forward: Meet the Vietnamese-American entrepreneurs turning food into legacy

For sisters Tracy and Tiffany Pham (pictured above with their family), the entrepreneurial journey began when their father, Cuong, rediscovered the superior quality of authentic, locally sourced fish sauce during a visit to his hometown in Vietnam in 2005. 

"He returned with a bottle of fish sauce, and it brought my grandmother to tears because it had been decades since she had it," Tiffany Pham says. "Fish sauce is so quintessential to Vietnamese cuisine. You can't have Vietnamese food without it. And when they moved to the U.S., Vietnamese products were not available."

This moment planted the idea for Red Boat Fish Sauce. This Bay Area brand launched in 2011, dedicated to the traditional methods of making pure fish sauce from just anchovies and sea salt. Cuong quit his job as a software engineer, and the family began taking sourcing trips to the Phú Quốc region of Vietnam to produce their original fish sauce. 

"The process we use is something that has been used in Vietnam for centuries. It's the highest quality, the highest concentration. It's not diluted with water, sugar, or extracts," says Tracy Pham.

Prior to the rise of Red Boat, Vietnamese fish sauce was scarce in national chains. They realized there was a gap in the market for a high-quality version, and they wanted to fill it. Now Red Boat is available on grocery shelves across the country from Whole Foods to Walmart.

For Nguyen Coffee Supply founder Sahra Nguyen (pictured above), the mission of her brand is also about honoring ancient tradition. Despite being the second-largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil, Vietnam's coffee was often overlooked in the U.S. 

Nguyen's journey began with frustration—frustration at the way Vietnamese coffee was misrepresented in American coffee culture. "I remember visiting coffee shops and asking what was in their Vietnamese coffee, because it didn't taste like the iced coffee I had growing up," she says. 

She realized they were all using arabica beans and not the robusta beans used in the authentic Vietnamese beverage. Robusta beans, grown in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, have long been labeled as low-quality beans in the West. Because of this misconception, robusta was rarely found in the U.S.

"Vietnamese coffee is synonymous with robusta coffee. But there's this strong bias in the coffee industry that arabica is good and robusta is bad. I wanted to challenge that and expand the conversation."

By establishing direct trade relationships with Vietnamese farmers, Nguyen ensures her coffee is not only of the highest quality but also ethically sourced. The brand hosts tastings and workshops, where Nguyen ventures beyond the coffee itself to share the rich history behind it. 

Her work has helped shift the myths around robusta, bringing an aspect of Vietnamese culture to kitchens across America. 

"I go to these events and now everyone is talking about robusta coffee. Things have changed so much, and the industry is excited about the possibilities."

Food as innovation

Similarly, Duke Pham of Pho'nomenal Foods reimagined classic Vietnamese flavors through the development of instant pho products. As he expanded from restaurant owner to food product innovator, he quickly realized the potential for an instant version of pho that would respect the dish's authenticity while appealing to modern consumers looking for a quick meal. 

His breakthrough came when he collaborated with food scientists to develop a pho broth powder that retained the full flavor profile of the traditional broth—something that typically takes 10 hours of preparation. People without the time to brew a pho broth could still enjoy a hot, delicious bowl at home within minutes. 

"Pho is a staple item of our culture. It's breakfast, dinner, a late night snack—a good meal at pretty much any time of the day," says Pham. "It's just been great to be able to bring that part of our culture here and make it more of a mainstream item."

Each packet of Pho'nomenal's broth uses high-quality, natural ingredients, avoiding the artificial additives found in other instant products on the market. By fusing tradition and convenience, he's pushing traditional Vietnamese cuisine into new territories.

While some founders are filling market gaps for more traditional products, others are using their backgrounds as the catalyst for something wholly new. 

In the heart of San Francisco, Wendy Lieu's artisanal chocolate brand, Socola Chocolatier (pictured above), is blending the traditional with the modern.

As a teenager, Lieu and her sister worked at her parents' nail salon. On their breaks, they'd go to the mall to get free chocolate samples. It's where she fell in love with truffles, and she began experimenting with chocolate recipes at home—making her own fresh from scratch. Eventually, she landed a coveted spot at the local farmers market and began to build a following. However, she felt her brand was missing something.

"In the chocolate industry, we were spending a lot of time trying to fit in. I decided we needed to stand out," says Lieu. "A lesson I learned is that if you're too broad in your business, you're going to be competing against all these people doing the same thing you are."

When she looked at popular chocolates, she saw they often followed tried-and-true formulas with no experimentation. Determined to fill that void, Lieu began taking risks with innovative ingredients like sriracha and durian, infusing Socola chocolates with the bold flavors of Vietnam. She even made pho-flavored chocolate. The result was a collection of truffles that celebrated her heritage and made Socola stand out in a saturated market.

"By being so specific about my Vietnamese culture, we started attracting more customers than I ever thought we could," Lieu says. "Now whenever I travel, I'm looking for more Asian flavors that can translate into chocolate."

Food as a connector

Fifty years on, the stories of brands like these reveal the power of different backgrounds, perspectives, and of course, tastes. These entrepreneurs successfully tapped into a market opportunity because they had a deep understanding of their culture and its culinary traditions. Their growth is a loud and clear signal—consumers are hungry for real flavors that take them on a journey.

"What I see now is that more people want to find those authentic products that come directly from Vietnam. Whereas before there was hesitation, there's now curiosity," says Tracy Pham of Red Boat.

Food is a powerful storyteller. Each bite, each sip carries the weight of memory, history, and culture. Through their work, these entrepreneurs forge connections that transcend borders and generations. Ultimately, they create a world where food connects us all.

"It's not so long ago that my parents literally lived through war and escaped Vietnam on a boat," says Sahra Nguyen of Nguyen Coffee Supply. 

"I'm so proud of what this community has achieved in such a short time. If the community came this far in just 50 years, what will they achieve in the next fifty?"