Today we’d like to introduce you to Priscilla Phangramond.
Hi Priscilla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Me and my husband’s favorite childhood snack is mochi. In Asia, there’s a lot of different type of mochi, but the one that we grew up eating is the traditional Hakka mochi; mochi that covered with ground peanut powder and sugar. Me and my mom used to make this from scratch when I was little. It’s one of my favorite memories of her, she would let me and my sister pound the mochi using wooden pestle, back then we did not have an oven, we used a wok to roast the peanuts. We would then snack on the peanut until my mom scolded us, her laughter, her kind voice, her warm touch, the sweetness of the mochi, the chewiness, everything, would be forever etched in my heart. It still felt like yesterday. She passed away years ago, so this recipe, this venture, not just business like usual, for us this is our way to preserve her legacy and her recipe. She was the kindest woman I know, her perseverance never ceased to amaze me.
So when pandemic hit, we’re all kind of living in a limbo, nothing was certain. Like many other families, my husband got furlough, although I was blessed to be able to keep my job by working from home. We got a lot of downtime at home and one day, a family friend knew that I love to make traditional mochi. She encouraged us to sell it to help with our financial situation. Me and my husband had zero intention to dive into this sticky business (pun intended) but we took her advice and started to sell it to our family and friends, we didn’t expect that it becomes such a hit!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Like many other small businesses, we wear many different hats, from the production, marketing, social media, designing, etc. Juggling between a full-time job, a side business, raising a toddler, it’s quite a handful job. But nothing beats the feeling when people said that our mochi brought back their childhood memories. We learned a lot from our communities, we’ve met a lot of inspiring people along the way and they were very generous of giving their advice.
As you know, we’re big fans of Mochee LA. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We specialized in mochi dessert, the most that we known for is the traditional mochi, some people called it Hakka or Taiwanese style mochi; a stretchy chewy mochi covered with peanut or black sesame powder. It is sweet, chewy, nutty, and they are best served warm. We also offer our own creation of egg tarts, which we layered with mochi and other topping, they are a cult favorite. We make everything fresh each week, always in small batches, that’s the reason we only do pre-order that way we can maintain our quality each batch. We treat our customers like family, we are still in awe of how much we’ve grown this past year, how much we’ve all grown together as a community. We’re able to stand despite these difficult times that we’re living in. Mochee LA will celebrate its first anniversary this end of August, and we will have a surprise for our customers, so don’t forget to follow us on our Instagram @mochee.la.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
That everyone is struggling, no matter who you are or where you came from, we must show grace and kindness towards each other. That our Asian community is strong, our voices is valid and together we’re able to become one body and fight the systemic racism together.
Pricing:
- Traditional Mochee Box $7.50
- Mochee Egg Tart comes in different flavors and sizes, varies from $11 – $30
- Mochee Bomb comes in different flavors varies from $10-$11
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.mocheela.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mochee.la/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMocheeLA
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mochee-la-san-gabriel?osq=mochee+la
Image Credits:
Mochee LA
