We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erin Hoang. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erin below.

Erin, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Gigi, my sister and business partner, and I were touring the space that is now First Sip Cafe with our other sister, who originally wanted to open a vegan Vietnamese restaurant there. I noticed how close we were to the red line station, lake, and music venues and saw a lack of a coffee shop. I suggested to my sister to open a coffee shop instead, who turned on me and said why don’t you do it. I looked at my sister Gigi and told her that I’ll do it if you do it. A month later we started working on the space without any coffee or cafe experiences and no savings.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My background is in marketing and Gigi’s background is in mathematics so we both did not expect to be in hospitality, especially with growing up working for our parents Vietnamese restaurant. My backgrounds been useful with marketing and event planning. Gigi keeps us very logical, organized, and financially healthy.

I think where First Sip Cafe really shines is in our experimental coffee and tea flavors. We also put up a lot of community events including art shows, pop up markets, pot lucks, mixers, etc.

We are most proud of opening First Sip Cafe without any investors or partners, giving us full ownership and control over the entire business.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is a clear example of what not to do. Since we opted to not look for investors or partners and did not have savings to invest into the business, we resorted to using our credit cards and thrifting to furnish the space.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Since we opening the shop, we’ve been working 7 days a week, currently at 65 hours per week with just a couple of days off throughout each year.

During the initial Covid-19 shut downs where indoor dining was not allowed, we turned our space into a gallery while serving take out customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://firstsip.cafe
• Instagram: firstsipcafe

Image Credits

Kayla Wilson Photography