Today we’d like to introduce you to Viet Do.
Viet, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We are a group of best friends who enjoy traveling and learning about different cultures around the world, and we also love coffee. Along the process, we discovered that basically what we were doing was essentially learning about different coffee cultures. We wanted to introduce America to these fantastic coffee beverages as served in countries we learned.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Yes and no. I’ll start off with the no first. We are new to entrepreneurship so we really had a lot of learning to do and are still going through some growing pains, such as operations, logistics, how do we serve these drinks as close to the original recipes as possible without breaking the bank, providing value to our customers, and maintaining consistent quality. All the while, we worried about minimizing every little single mistake early on because social media, though a great marketing tool, can be a huge liability. As for yes, we are very fortunate that our customers notice and appreciate the care and quality we put in our recipes. We have gotten off to a great start for a new business and we are excited for our future.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
What sets us apart from others is that we are offering a model of cafes not yet seen in America. In America, everything is so fast-paced, people are in such a rush, no one really enjoys their coffee. Coffee is something Americans get in drive-thrus on their way to work. What we are trying to do is have people slow down a bit, appreciate a real gourmet cup of coffee and establish a welcoming place where they can work, study, or just hang out with friends. We are most proud of the fact that we are able to share authentic coffees without cutting corners, brewing our coffees through traditional Phins (Vietnamese), Chorreador (Costa Rican), or Hario (Japanese). Instead of through machines. Everything is hand dripped.
What were you like growing up?
I was adventurous, a bit of a trouble maker, but my parents always instilled a value of hard work, integrity, and honesty. Like many first-generation Americans, I went through phases of not knowing what my identity was culturally – Am I American or Vietnamese? I was always interested in history, and perhaps that is where my interest in different cultures comes from because America is such a melting pot and learning American and World history brought all that together. Growing up, I was always fascinated with comic books and superheroes.
Pricing:
- Most of our drinks are $4-$5
Contact Info:
- Address: 12921 Main St.
Garden Grove, CA 92840 - Website: phinsmith.com
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