We had the good fortune of connecting with Thomas Trieu & Michelle Kha and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Thomas Trieu & Michelle Kha, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
This was actually very spontaneous! We’ve been predominantly eating home cooked, plant-based meals over the last 2.5 years, and over that span of time, we tried to cook meals across various cuisines.

On New Year’s Eve of 2021, I remember us talking about possibly venturing into the food business later on in the year. We knew we had a lot of passion around cooking, food, and sharing healthy, delicious meals with our loved ones. The opportunity came about when we found out a good friend of ours was co-hosting the West Covina Spring Festival. Within a span of 24 hours, we created our menu consisting of 3 plant-based burgers, agreed on a business name, and submitted all applications. It was the best last minute decision we’ve made!

What should our readers know about your business?
We feel like one of the things that sets us apart from other food businesses is the use of microgreens in our burgers. Microgreens are extremely nutritious, and it’s a shame that they’re mostly used as garnishes only. We want to normalize the use of eating microgreens in abundance so that we may all have “health in abundance”.

Something we’re most proud of would have to be serving plant-based food that even meat-fanatics/veggie-disliking people really enjoyed! It was just a great feeling knowing we changed people’s viewpoints on what plant-based food could taste like.

We believe perseverance plays a huge part in where we are now. Although we’re still in the beginning stages of our journey, there were plenty of challenges. As long as we could identify it, we could work towards a solution, whether it be through using Google or asking someone with experience. It’s safe to say that one of the best things you can do is to believe in yourself and trust the process. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be worth it.

If there’s one thing we’d like you to know is that we just want to help people live a happier and healthier life through food!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh man, LA has so many good eats and sights to see for a first-timer. The diversity of LA’s food scene allows you to try food from so many different cultures and countries. You could start by grabbing some birria tacos from the Birrieria Villalobos food truck in East LA, then some delicious hangover-curing pho from Pho Filet 2 in Rosemead, and even some Mediterranean food at Hummus Labs in Pasadena. Other notable mentions would be a Laksa Mee from Borneo in Alhambra or a Tsukemen dipping-style ramen from Tsujita in West LA. If you’re a fan of fried chicken and spice, I’d recommend Howlin’ Rays for some of the best fried chicken in all of LA!

Sorry, I definitely got a bit carried away there. Along with all that food, there are tons of places to visit and sightsee. During the day you could enjoy a picnic with a view of the L.A. skyscrapers at Vista Hermosa Park. I would check out the Grand Central Market (one of the OG food halls I believe) or Round 1 in the city of Industry for those that enjoy arcade games, karaoke, bowling, and sports. Griffith Observatory and Signal Hill Park offer some of the best views out here so hitting these places at night is preferred. Why not take advantage of these views right?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Without a doubt, we wouldn’t be here without the support of our friends and family. It was truly a blessing to see them come support our first pop-up. Not just that, but a couple of our friends helped us set up, break things down, and even assisted with the cooking when things got really hectic. They definitely deserve this shoutout! We appreciate you guys!

Instagram: www.instagram.com/pieceful.eats

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.