After the Fall: First-generation Vietnamese Americans carry on parents’ entrepreneurship
Sunnyvale is known for its rich tapestry of ethnic restaurants, many of them Asian. In honor of AAPI month, we’re highlighting two of them, both started by children of immigrants who fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon 50 years ago.
Brothers Eddie and Edwin Truong, first generation Vietnamese Americans, recently opened Teriyaki Madness in a Sunnyvale strip mall anchored by an REI, Safeway and 24-hour Fitness gym. They were born into a Vietnamese refugee family whose parents arrived in San Jose with nothing but ambition and a wish for a better life. Their mother started a wedding arts and crafts retail shop, and their father worked at a restaurant, both saving to put their sons through college. Eddie remembers his mother picking up items from the Berryessa Flea Market to start her wedding décor and party favors business.
Eddie, who graduated from UC Davis, works as a government affairs consultant, while his brother Edwin, wanted to be a business owner. The two decided to open a franchise together in honor of their parents’ hard work and sacrifice.
“We are borrowing from our parent’s playbook of positioning ourselves for success and adapting to shifting market conditions,” says Eddie. “We see this business endeavor as carrying on the legacy of our longstanding family values of entrepreneurship.”
Another motivator for starting a business was to give back to the community that nurtured them. They have already donated 200 meals to Sunnyvale Community Services, Community Seva, the Bill Wilson Center and families in need near Ellis Elementary School.
After looking at numerous franchise opportunities, Eddie and Edwin chose Teriyaki Madness. “While we do have diverse food choices, there are not healthy and delicious options like teriyaki,” explains Edwin.
Being located near fitness-oriented businesses proved a boon to the small startup, which is housed in a former Keypoint Credit Union that closed during the pandemic. The brothers are sharing the space with another healthy option, Yaffa Hummus.
While their most popular offering is chicken teriyaki, they also sell a lot of salmon. “My staff will hate me for saying this because it’s a lot of work, but my favorite is the spicy chicken with yaki style soba noodles and veggies,” Edwin says. “It’s wok-fried to sear in all the flavors.”
On the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, their mom held the ribbon and was duly honored by state treasurer Fiona Ma and other dignitaries for her previously unheralded entrepreneurial success.
“She was a little embarrassed by all the attention,” says Eddie, who notes that his parents were part of the third wave of Vietnamese refugees. “They escaped a war-torn country to create a better life for themselves and their kids. Only in America you can find these kinds of opportunities.”
Their father passed away in 2016 due to kidney failure, but his immigrant spirit lives on in his sons.
Teriyaki Madness is located at 134 E El Camino Real. For menus and hours, visit teriyakimadness.com/locations/ca-sunnyvale.
Resilient restaurateur
Chef Katie Voong of Ktea Café and Mayan Kitchen embodies the relentless drive of a survivor. “I was standing outside the restaurant where I was working (DishDash in downtown Sunnyvale), and said to myself, ‘Someday, I want to have my own restaurant here.’”
Four years later, in 2018, she started Ktea Café on Murphy Avenue. Its offshoot, Ktea Caters, served high-tech companies like Google, eBay, Flex, Polycom, Uber, Bytedance, Microsoft, Cisco, Facebook and Samsung.
When COVID hit in 2020, the corporate business evaporated. Keeping the café going took a resolve that Voong, a Hong Kong-born single mother and daughter of Chinese/Vietnamese parents, didn’t even know she had.
“Those first three years, everyone was working at home, and I wasn’t sure I could make it,” she recalls. “I kept telling myself that I have debt to pay back, and if I close the doors, it hurts my landlord.”
Inspired by her desire to eat healthier, Voong cooked up the idea for Mayan Kitchen with Chef Ed Correa, who is from Hunucmá in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Among his creations are the Fried Bao Bun with cochinita pibil (slow-cooked pork Yucatan style), pickled onions, cilantro, cheese sauce and mayo; and the Cochinita Salbut, which tops a fluffy handmade corn tortilla with pork, black bean puree, cabbage, pickled onions, homemade salsa verde and cotija cheese.
Having two restaurants in one spot—Voong still operates Ktea as an online order-only business with pickup and delivery—is a challenge that her design partner, Deborah Armstrong of DBA Visual Team, tackled handily.
Voong credits Correa and Armstrong for helping her survive that critical first year. “The second year, our revenue doubled and we had to expand our team.”
An essential part of her business plan is her Giving Back Program. “I love to help others, so I dedicate a portion of my week to community projects, such as sponsoring ChildrenGiving.org, Joy Club, flag football and more,” says Voong. Ktea Café also donates food weekly to The Food Bank.
“This is more than a business; this is what I love!,” says Voong. “Healthy food is medicine, so eat the right stuff.”
Mayan Kitchen is located at 139 S. Murphy Ave. For reservations, visit https://mayankitchenfood.com.