Meet Annie Chuong | Dumpling Friend

We had the good fortune of connecting with Annie Chuong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
This question is difficult to answer because it happened spontaneously. I started a dumpling fundraiser earlier this year during the height of the anti-Asian violence. It was pretty successful for what it was–the fundraiser lasted a month and a half, I raised more money than I could have imagined, and I wrapped over 3,000 dumplings. I was hoping to just raise a couple of hundred dollars and share dumplings with a few friends, but through social media and word-of-mouth, I got a lot of positive feedback for the dumplings and decided I wanted to share it with more people. About a month and a half later, I decided to take the opportunity to sell at my very first pop-up.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My professional background is in marketing and I’ve worked in a lot of small teams at different startups. My professional career path has been anything but linear and I’ve learned so much along the way. I’m proud that I’m open-minded to new experiences and always willing to learn about something that is out of my expertise. Although, I do think that I am interested in too many things which can be challenging at times figuring what really excites me. I definitely took this mindset with me when I started Annie’s Dumplings. Having to wear “multiple hats” and juggling between sales, marketing, finances, and figuring out what my business model is, is all fun and exciting to me. I sometimes joke and say that it feels like I’m college again and this is a group project–except that I have no group members, it’s just me. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that work is the same wherever you go, and it’s the people that make all the difference. For Annie’s Dumplings, the people I’ve had the chance to meet and connect with along the way have been the best part of my experience.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Whenever I get the opportunity to show someone new around, I always prioritize food. I would reserve a few days for a mini Vietnamese/Chinese food tour of the San Gabriel Valley which is where I grew up. Dim Sum is a must for me and we’ll start out one of our mornings at Five Star Seafood because it’s a whole experience going there. I love every step of it including the busy parking lot, the flight of stairs to the top of the restaurant, the long wait, and then finding the ladies with my favorite Dim Sum dishes. I’ll also take them to my favorite place to grab banh mi, Banh Mi My Tho in Alhambra, and I’d order a #2 for them along with a meatball stick and an iced coffee. Perhaps we’ll go to Yi Mei or Yung Ho for Taiwanese breakfast another morning and I’ll order a fan tuan and salty soy milk for them. For dinner, we’ll most likely end up at Northern Cafe for noodles or Savoy for Hainan chicken. Maybe another night we’ll end up at Thiên Ân Bố 7 Món for their cá nướng or Nha Trang because I love their Bún Bò Huế. These are some of my favorite restaurants and I’d love to share these dining experiences with anyone who loves to eat like me!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mom deserves a lot of the credit behind Annie’s Dumplings because I’m using her recipes! I used to wrap dumplings with my mom when I was in high school and it would just be something easy to make for me and my brothers whenever my parents weren’t home. I learned a lot from my mom watching her in the kitchen throughout the years. She also loves improvising new recipes and I think that gave me a lot of confidence in the kitchen when I really have no experience with cooking. It also helped a lot when I decided to make dumplings for the fundraiser. I felt confident that others enjoyed the dumplings and the feedback I received made my mom so happy. Her happiness definitely motivated me to continue beyond the fundraiser.

Website: www.anniesdumplings.com

Instagram: anniesdumplings

Image Credits
Efren Chuong and Alister Mori