Hidden Gems: Meet Mirantree Matelski of Roaming Thai Kitchen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mirantree Matelski.

Hi Mirantree, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My family has four members: my father, my mother, me, and my younger brother. I am the eldest daughter. I grew up in a lower/middle-class family and my parents raised me well. They sent me to a good school—one of the best in the province of Ayutthaya, Thailand. Even though my parents were just regular employees, working for wages and living paycheck to paycheck, they always tried their best to provide me with everything good.

We grew up in a small house, not much room. We lived together and had to use a net to protect us from the mosquitos because the house had no walls. That is a common thing in rural Thailand. My parents worked hard and sometimes I had to stay with my grandma when they were working. They always had time for me though. After work, my Mom would get my favorite food for me to eat. My Dad always took me out too even though they didn’t have much money. They always put effort to their kids. My parents knew a lot of people in the small town but I was a bit separate – my parents wanted me to go out and experience a bit more. That said, most of my family was there. For most of my childhood, we had to drink rain water because it was better than what you could get in the water supply.

I think I was an independent kid and I’m still an independent person. I was a lot different than the other people in my family. I felt like people in my hometown didn’t understand me. I value the strong spirit of independence. I was closer to my Dad than my Mom. My Dad would always talk about life with me and sometimes, I didn’t like what he said because they were happy with the small things but I wanted more, to be honest. But they were really grateful for their kids. They gave me access to the best schools they could, especially when it came to university and that was a big sacrifice. I wanted the best for them too though and it made me feel sad to see them in those living conditions. They deserved better. It made me sad that they had to borrow money and give it to me for my education. My husband and I did eventually built them a proper house though which makes me feel good. But it goes to show that they always put me first.

I wanted to come to the United States because when I was 13, I had a cousin that came to the US and when she came back to Thailand, she was able to get a much better paying job. I had another cousin that went a couple years later and seeing their success made me want to come to the US. I set my goal from then on to do whatever it would take to come here. There was a program called Au Pair that let you come to the US and be a nanny for a host family on a visa. You could come to the US for 1-2 years on that visa. I learned about that and applied. To do it, I had to have some experience taking care of kids and learn English. Fortunately, I was learning physical education and so my resume looked good because of that. There was also a “matching” process to link me with the host family. My English was terrible at that time but like I said, my resume looked good so I was able to match with a family.

I came to the US through Au Pair in 2015. My English still wasn’t good. I met my host family and they ended up abusing me in terms of the work hours. The limit was supposed to be 45 hours with 1 day off per week which was fine for me but they had me working 14 hours every single day. I told Au Pair about that and they tried to help but the host family ended up filing a complaint about me in return and kicking me out of the house. Keep in mind I didn’t know many people. I was literally out on the street and I didn’t even know about calling 911 or anybody for help. Fortunately, I met some Thai friends who let me stay with them and eventually, I was able to find another host family – this time a Thai family which was much better to me.

When the kids I was watching went to school, I had a lot of free time. I had a friend who was a massage therapist and was making really good money. So I took a class to study to be a masseuse. Then, I met my boyfriend who became my husband. I also started working in restaurants and I liked the variety of doing something other than massage. I like learning new skills.

Eventually, my friends said that they wanted to start a pop-up Thai food business. We all had the same philosophy that we wanted to run our own business eventually and not work for someone else. Seeing what they wanted to do, it looked fun and it was cheaper than opening a restaurant.

We scoped out some other vendors and eventually a night market to start at. We started small and made the best of what we had in terms of equipment and resources. Once you get one event, you can talk to other vendors and they can recommend you to other markets. You can quickly figure out which markets are successful. A lot of those early markets weren’t a great match for our food but eventually, we found markets that were better for us.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like I said, I started with friends but there came to be some issues when it came to prepping in between events. There’s A LOT of work those goes on. There was 3 of us and we were supposed to be sharing the work but it became a big hassle. One day, my friends decided to move out of California and I had to decide if I would continue on. It’s a lot of work for one person. A lot of the challenges of preparing the food and equipment are very difficult. But fortunately, my husband stepped up and started helping me during events. So now it’s me and my husband. I still do most of the prep work but I have help during the events fortunately. As the business grew, I quit all my jobs except working as a massage therapist one day a week. So it’s a full time thing now. It was a big risk but the business has grown and I feel good about it.

We do a lot of beer breweries. Thai food seems to go really good with beer and the folks there really like us. So these days we mostly do breweries.

One day, I would like to have a proper restaurant but I would still want to do pop-ups. I want to expand my team. The reality is that there’s a lot of physical labor involved in a pop-up and I can’t do it forever. I would like to get to a place where we can do 2 events simultaneously. I’m also trying to get more catering orders all the time.

On slow days, I feel more tired than busy days. When people complement my food, I feel happy. I put effort on every single dish I sell and that is a satisfying feeling. I am proud of myself for that. People say the food is reasonably priced. I believed in this business and it’s turning out well. It’s a long term plan for me.

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?
My business is called Roaming Thai Kitchen. We sell authentic Thai food out of a pop-up tent. We bring Thai food to places where you don’t normally see it – such as beer breweries and farmers markets. We also cater all events such as parties, weddings, corporate lunches, etc… We like to keep prices reasonable while giving good portions. You can find us at Malibu Farmers Market every Sunday along with various breweries in LA and Ventura Counties such as San Fernando Brewing, Enegren Brewing in Moorpark, Naughty Pine in Thousand Oaks, Mt. Lowe in Arcadia, and Lucky Luke in Santa Clarita. We always announce where we will be each week on our Instagram (@roamingthaikitchen)

I recommend our Pad Thai and our Thai Basil (ka prow). We get a lot of positive feedback on those dishes. We offer choices of meat (chicken, beef, shrimp) along with tofu or veggie options. Our Pad Thai is gluten free. Many of our entrees and appetizers are vegan/vegetarian. We also have Mango Sticky Rice as a dessert option. That one is popular too.,

What was your favorite childhood memory?
It sounds silly but it could be swimming at the lake with my cousin and brother. When we came back home and my clothes were all wet, my grandma would be standing there waiting for us. It’s hard to explain why but it made me happy. It was actually sort of dangerous to go out and do that but we still do it. Maybe I like taking risks 😉

Pricing:

• Entrees are approx. $15
• Appetizers are approx. $8

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roamingthaikitchen/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V6XawFgwPA
• Other: https://g.co/kgs/KVGqSX7