We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Evan Vang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Evan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
My name is Evan Vang. I am a first-generation mixed Hmong-American from Virginia Beach. My mother is a native of the Hampton Roads area, which my aunt tells me goes back multiple generations, from Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. My father and his family came from Thailand’s refugee camps between 1978 and 1979. They had been displaced there from the wars in Laos. It is an unfortunate history that many do not know much about. The long and short of it would be that the Vietnam War was pushing into the country of Laos. The Hmong People, who are recognized as the minority in Laos, also the Hill People, had become allies armed by the U.S., facilitated by C.I.A. operatives and led by General Vang Pao to help fallen American soldiers and pilots in the region. When the war ended, Nixon pulled out the support in Laos for the Hmong people. The Laos Democratic Republic and the Vietcong allied and organized to eradicate the Hmong people from their countries. This led to years of genocide and re-education of Hmong people in the region. Through a harsh jungle-like terrain and fear of soldiers, my Grandfather had traded off all belongings, and any income he had to travel and bride through with our Grandmother, Uncles, and my father were able to make it to the refugee camp in Thailand.
A local women’s group here in Virginia Beach at the Eastern Shore Chapel located on Laskin Road had heard of the atrocities happening to the Hmong people—a very kind woman, Mary Lee (which my youngest Uncle Lee was named after. I received it as my middle name and passed it on to my daughter Isabel Lee Vang) Mary Lee and another great woman in our community Carolyn Cox (1st Woman Owned Law Practice in V.B.) along with others organized to sponsor a family to come to the United States. By the grace of god, they had found information about our Vang family in this refugee camp. They Sponsored our Vang family to Virginia Beach, set them up with a home, and allowed them to have a new life in the United States.
Shortly after, my father met my mother, Stephanie, a single mom, with my older sister Dawn. To my understanding, my father fell in love with my mother and with my older sister as a toddler. He wanted to have a family and help take care of my sister. They married, and soon after, I was on the way. I would be my father’s first son and one of the first multi-racial Hmong Americans Born in the United States in 1980.
From then on, it seemed our family / Vang Clan grew yearly. By the time I was the age of10, I had five brothers and three sisters. Growing up in such a large family, with my mother at home and my father working for the city, we didn’t have much money and often depended on Churches, Social Services, and the community for support. We were fortunate to have an incredible Christmas most years. Many great people loved and supported our family. My Aunt Jenny and two cousins, like my older brothers, played a massive role in my development.
My father never stopped working. He would work his Virginia Beach City School groundsman job from 6 am to 4 pm every weekday and then do side landscaping jobs on the weekends. I believe that is where my work ethic derived from. I’d begin my career as a lawn mowing kid around 10. I’d walk my dad’s lawnmower around the neighborhood and offer to mow yards starting at $20, and sometimes it was negotiated down to $10. It was once to make my own money and not have to sneak the change out of my father’s pockets after he worked all day.
We lived in a small trailer in Virginia Beach. It was something that, in my teens, I would be ashamed of and try to hide from the friends I made at the Oceanfront. My Aunt Jenny had taken a chance with me and allowed me to move in with her on 34th Street at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. During my time there, I learned to surf and skate. I took my first job under the table at Ocean Eddies on the pier. I was 13 at the time. The pay was $4.25 an hour. My first paycheck was over $100. I’m hooked. I make the joke that the restaurant industry is like the mafia. Once you are in, you are in for life. I feel that my decision to work as a dishwasher was when I crossed over to this world, never to return.
From here, I will move a bit faster in the story; I left Ocean Eddies to further my career as a Dishwasher at a popular B.B.Q. spot in Virginia Beach called Frankies Place For Ribs. They needed a dishwasher, and my cousin told them I could grind. I had been at Ocean Eddies doing it in a triple-deep sink. I’m offered $6.50 hr to come over. While the old man Donald, Bobby (the kitchen manager and main cook), and all the staff at Ocean Eddies were kind to me, I had to take on the new job. At Frankie’s, I made a lot of great friends and began the practice of getting my friends a family a job. Frankies was the sister restaurant to another local restaurant, Rockafeller’s, on Rudee Inlet. I was asked to wash dishes for their Christmas party that year so their employees could attend. I had pneumonia the week of this party but knew I had to go to work at the event. When I arrived, I explained to General Manager Larry and let him know I was on meds and not contagious. He checked on me regularly, and in the end, I was paid $100 cash for the night. For a 15-year-old kid, that was a great haul for a shift. As the summer arrived, my friend Mike told me I should come to work with him at Rockafeller’s as a busser, making over $100 on good days. He said he would talk to his boss about me and I should come by. It had been months since the Christmas party, and when I arrived, Larry was the boss I was there to meet. I remember him looking at me surprised and asking Mike is this the guy. “He’s hired.” He remembered me from the night I worked at the party. I stayed at Rockafeller’s for almost six years; I was a busser, a dishwasher, a prep cook, a line cook, an expo, one the two fastest foodrunners ever there, and a server. I made many friends and gained great relationships there. My brother ended up working there with a lot of neighborhood friends. It was an incredible experience, just like all my experiences in the restaurant families we became a part of. From there, I returned to Frankies to Serve. I went to Rigationi’s (Murphy’s Irish Pub, originally in the 80s, the Golden Dragon, where my father had his first job as a dishwasher when he arrived in the U.S….) From Rigatoni’s, a friend told me a restaurant called P.F. Chang’s was coming to the city’s new town center area. I applied and was offered a busser or food runner position at 21. I went back for 2nd and 3rd interviews. I did not want to go backward. I wanted to move forward into bartending, not return to the job I had when I was 15. Cathy Sprouse, the Operating Partner at the opening, spoke to me during my last interview and convinced me to take the job as a food runner reluctantly. I was part of the opening of P.F. Chang’s in Virginia Beach over 20 years ago. A week into the opening, one of the managers in charge of the Expo and the restaurant’s food flow walked away from us food runners and didn’t return. I can’t speak about why he abandoned his post, but I asked the other food runners to trust me and that I could expand the window until we could figure out what was happening. They agreed. I spoke to the chef on the other side, and we started pumping the food out. Cathy, the Operating partner, eventually comes to the line and sees me running the window. She is unhappy about it and asks why I am and where the manager is in charge of the window. I told her I did not know but felt I needed to jump in because the food was backing up. She asked me if I was ok, and I told her our ticket times were 10-15 minutes. She asked me to stay in the window until she could figure things out. Later, she returned to me and asked if I would take a break after the lunch rush and return later that night. She would pay me $16 per hour for the Expo and possibly the rest of the week. I became the full-time Expo, filling a spot managers usually take. I became the trainer for Food Runners and the initial trainer for all servers on our menu knowledge; within a year, I was finally able to get back to serving with the great possibility of bartending. The training and the structure were something I had never seen before in a restaurant. I loved it. We would go on trips with the managers and Lead Trainers to other locations for meetings and have a great time. Drinks, great food, and better people. After one of these trips, I was asked to go to the office. I wasn’t concerned I was in trouble, but the opposite. My friend and manager Sonny had pulled me aside and told me that they finally talked about me becoming a Bartender. When I arrived in the office, Cathy was there and offered me a position as a manager. I was 23 at the time. I told her that I wasn’t sure if I was ready. She told me she had faith in me and to sleep on it. I did and returned the next day to tell her I would accept the position. I begann my career as a restaurant manage,rwhichd put me also on the path back into the kitchen. At P.F. Chang’s, I would be a Host Manager, Server Manager, Bar Manager, Training Manager, and a Sous Chef for a year. As a sous chef, I had the opportunity to make family meals. I was in a particularly motivated and good mood one day while preparing a family meal and decided to make my father’s Crispy Rolls, which I now call Vang Rolls, an homage to him and our family. My father would make them by the hundreds when we were younger and give them to friends and neighbors. When we were kids, our friends would come to our homes and devour them. I wanted to share this with my family at P.F.Chang’s, so I found similar ingredients that my father would use but not exactly and essentially came up with my recipe based on his. I needed a sauce to pair and didn’t want to use the basic sweet and sour or plum sauce in the restaurant, so I made my own. My father always gave us yellow mustard or honey as a sauce for the rolls and occasional hot sauce. As we ate them, the sauces blended. This would be the base of the Hawk Sauce. Honey, Yellow Mustard, Chili Paste, Siracha, Garlic, Black Pepper, and more. Everyone who had them at a family meal that day loved them. Eventually, I would make them to purchase for the personal home stash. I did. I ended up leaving P.F. Chang’s during the Housing financial crisis 2008. I swore off managing restaurants and finally got that bartending job at a steak house, which soon became a Greek restaurant called Yanni’s. Later, I would sell Vang rolls to a bar in Inland Reef in Virginia Beach. I was drinking, and the conversation about lumpia came up. I said I don’t make lumpia, but my crispy spring rolls were similar but better; he told me, ok, bring him some, and maybe he would buy them. I brought him 100 with the Hawk Sauce to try and give to regulars and employees. He said they were great and told me he would buy 300. This was the birth of the Kung Food Kitchen Experiment. Another image of my father was that he would watch his VHS tapes with all the old Kung Fu movies when he wasn’t working or would be cooking in the kitchen, whatever was in the refrigerator stir-fried and thrown on top of rice. There was no name or recipe for what he cooked. He just cooked what was available. I’m happy to say I got that from him. Kung Food Kitchen Experiment made sense to me as my rolls were that. It was just an inspired experiment of what he made with the ingredients I could gather at the time. Within a week of making a deal with Mark at the Inland Reef, I had an order for 200 Rolls for Judy’s Pub and picked up an order for 900 at another restaurant called Swell. I was over my head and committed to way more than I was ready for. I finished the orders within a week and delivered them all vacuum-sealed, labeled, and packaged. I made no money from this first round of orders. After three days of work, I think I walked away with less than $100. I had purchased all the ingredients in a rush. I didn’t cost anything out. I just wanted to get them done and delivered. It was my first lesson on cost and loss in a business. It would only be the first of these lessons. I worked on costs, started purchasing all ingredients in bulk, and finally made it sense. I was bartending and making my rolls on the side. I could see the future, and it was incredible and prosperous. I was incredibly excited about the brand and began to promote it with all the enthusiasm I could. I made a list and planned to move forward, but I’m lost on how. All I had in my toolbox was a lot of hope and ambition, but I had no real plan to move scale and move forward. I started a new Bartedning job at Yardhouse in Virginia Beach Towncenter. I am back at a new restaurant opening as an employee. It felt good to be back in this environment. A structured training program and scheduled open with all the proper steps to get to the Grand Opening. Once again, I was fortunate to work with some of the greatest players in the game. From the Bartenders I worked with to the Management, the team was solid, and we did great work there. The bartenders that I worked with helped me become better than I had ever been. Eventually, the Management had me as a trainer after the initial trainers had moved on to greener pastures. I was then given the opportunity to become a Traveling Bar Trainer for the company. I would be first to help set up the bar and train the team and, on three occasions, one of the last to leave. My travels broght me to Las Vegas, Portland, Indianapolis, and D.C. During this time, the entrepreneur in me was fired up again from my travels and visiting many breweries. Some friends and I began to brew beer and quickly began brewing more and more. Bottling and giving away each new recipe we came up with. This was the idea behind Kung Brewery, a play-off of the old Kung Food Kitchen. We spent over a year planning and brewing like madmen. I eventually was put in front of an investor who, at first, was skeptical but, by the end of our second meeting, told me he loved it. He was ready to put up $300k for the project. He said one simple thing. Come back in a couple of weeks and just make it make sense. I failed to get my team of friends to follow through with this request. Two months passed, and I received an email that was a kind letdown that now may not be the best time for an investment. It was the nicest way he could have told me I had dropped the ball. We were not ready. I was not ready. Once again, the dream gets put to the side. I am back to the daily grind. I eventually got into cryptocurrency in early 2016, when Bitcoin was less than $1k. I was lucky enough to get in during the initial wild west phase. I got lost in trading. I was able to turn $3k into almost $90k in a matter of months, but then my euphoria and ego began to take over. I was up and down, but the tens of thousands month after month. It was tough on the mind and spirit. I eventually dumped it all and could walk away with an $8k Dream P.C. build and $60k. At this time, I was working as a Manager/Bartender in the 2nd year of the Shack on 8th St. I was making great money there, and with the supplemental crypto money, I was comfortable. The winter came in 2018, and I had quit crypto; the Shack was essentially closed for the season, and I was part-time at Yardhouse. The money I made from my crypto trading was drying up, and I now had my lady and three daughters to support. I thought it would be an opportunity to see if anyone would like to purchase the Vang Rolls I made for the bars almost a decade ago. I made a post on Facebook asking what the possibility would be that anyone would be interested in Vang Rolls and Hawk Sauce. Within a couple of days, I had orders in comments and dm’s. and text messages upwards of 2500 rolls. It was unexpected, but I couldn’t say no. I purchased a used freezer from a very kind woman, Karen. She had a catering shop, and she was beginning to wind down. I told her my story when I came to pick up the freezer, and within a few weeks, we had an agreement, and I was now working out of her kitchen while she was finishing out the lease. From here, I began prepping and packaging Vang Rolls, Hawk Sauce, and Dumplings. We would take large orders for the Buxton, NC, community on Hatteras Island and drive a mix of thousands of rolls, dumplings, and hawk sauce. My friend Jen, who was managing Bottlecraft then, asked me to do a Pop-Up. At the time, I had no idea what a Pop-Up was exactly, so I Googled it and said sure, I’ll do it. The Kung Food Kitchen Experiment was back. Fun fusion comfort foods. We came in with no experience running a pop-up but did our best. We quickly became aware that our equipment continued to blow the breakers in the electrical box. We also did not have a pan to work on the induction burner. It was 1:15, and we were supposed to begin at 1 pm. We had people waiting. I promoted this thing more than I probably should have. A continued habit of mine. I know now that, at that moment, everyone was thinking about it but did not say, ” We should quit and pack it up.” I ended up finding extension cords in the building. We ran them to all outlets we could find and split the power to stop the surges. My friend Jeff ran to the store and purchased the only cast iron pan they had, which, to this day, is the largest and heaviest pan I’ve ever seen. He jumped in with me to help without me asking. He just said I’m here, man. I got you, and we went to work. In the following hours, we didmaking around $4k in sales for the 1st pop-up. It was unreal. We sold out of everything, and when people kept order, we offered the Experiment. Whatever ingredients I had left, I’d whip something up for them. From there, I was invited to a Culinary Underground event at Commonwealth Brewery. We had similar issues with power but made it through. Once again, the support of friends, family, and community was overwhelming. I now had 4-5 m0re pop-ups planned, A load of personal orders on deck, and the plan to take over the catering shop and make it my own. That night after the Commonwealth Brewery event, I had a phone call from an old friend who managed with me at P.F. Chang’s years ago. He said he knew a group of partners that needed help with their new restaurant. My friend Mike, who called me, is Taiwanese and is a good friend of the Chinese community in Hampton Roads. They were a Chinese company that had just opened Boil Bay on Holland Road. I understood that the manager they had brought on was flawed, and the business was not doing well; he asked me to speak with them and possibly work for them to help pull them out of a bad situation. I had sworn off full restaurant management unless it was my place. My experience with P.F. Chang’s, while having so many positive impacts on who I am today, left me bitter on my end with the company. He asked me to speak with them, if anything, as a personal favor, and I agreed to meet with them. When I arrived, I met with the partners at Boil Bay. This would be their first business together. Store #1. I spoke with Raymond, the company’s main partner, and told him I was simply there as a favor for Mike and that I’d be glad to help him find someone else for the position or give any advice I could. He stood firm in wanting me to take over based on Mike’s and another friend’s recommendation. I gave him a number I would need to make a week minimum to support my family and even consider it. He kindly let me know that their salary was too high. My intention was for him to say no. He essentially did, and we went inside. I had a few drinks at the bar with Mike and the Partners and was introduced to the manager I was supposed to replace. They introduced me as a side partner so as not to spook him about the threat to his job as a manager. As we sat there, I watched and listened to him yell and talk down to the bartender in front of me. I was not a fan of this person and could see why he needed to go. I thanked them for their time and left. Four days later, I got a call from Raymond, and he said we will pay you the salary you requested. I gave the Shack and Old Beach Tavern my notice, and a week later, I became the general manager of a failing seafood boiler restaurant on Holland Road. Once again, I feel unprepared; I’m out of my depth and trying to figure out what I’ve gotten myself into. I tried to keep the Kung Food Kitchen Experiment going with Pop-ups and all outside orders for the first few months, but I couldn’t do both. It was too much. Once again, Kung Food Kitchen and the entrepreneurial spirit go to bed. I helped Boil Bay on Holland Road go from $60k in sales in May to just under $300k a month by the end of the year. We had Colonial Heights, VA Boil Bay opening at the beginning of 2020, and by this time, I had a solid crew in Virginia Beach and was assembling a team to open the 2nd location. In a place you’d least expect this restaurant opening in February, one of the slowest times of the year for restaurants outside of Valentine’s Day. The partners had hoped we would open the first month with at least $250k in sales. We opened that location with $589k in sales in the first 30 days of business. Our successful opening blew everyone away. a couple of weeks later. The COVID mandate to close all indoor seating for restaurants dropped on us. I had to let go of 75% of the staff for both Virginia Beach and Colonial Heights locations. We now had to take both businesses and flip them into a whole new model. The first couple of weeks were dreadful, and the thought of getting through this seemed impossible. In the first week of shutdown, we had everyone tested. It turned out that a few employees and I were positive. I was asymptomatic but still stayed home to quarantine. I was in my room, away from my family and job, and sat waiting to get back to work. I had time to think and communicate with my managers and team. In April 2020, we had fully turned both locations into well-oiled takeout machines; I was reading about restaurant closings in the news and feared for our company. Incredibly, the Virginia Beach Boil Bay peaked at its highest sales month ever at $400k+, all in takeout. We opened three more locations already in development in the next couple of years when COVID-19 hit. Once again, Euphoria and Ego took over, and I believed I could take over ownership of Bottlecraft Craft Beer Shop in the Hilltop area, adding Kung Food Kitchen inside, Opening two other Boil Bays, and still in the thick of the Covid Pandemic. I was warned that it was too much of a risk and that it was too much to take on. I didn’t listen, and in the end, I ended up losing upwards of $60k in less than a year. Omicron came that winter and took me down. The business nearby, Tapped, closed its doors shortly after one of its employees passed due to complications with COVID-19. I was in bed a couple of weeks later dealing with it, and to be safe, we closed the shop for almost a week and a half. I recovered from omicron but could not recover from days of lost revenue. I had already been fighting my way out of the red with Bottlecraft, and this was the nail in the coffin. I ended up in a hospital for about a week due to what could be called a nervous breakdown. I ended up leaving the Boil Bay Company months after losing Bottlecraft. I took a job in Ocean City, MD, that made big promises of a big salary, a huge bonus structure, and equity in all new developments. Too good to be true. I left my family in Virginia Beach to live in Ocean City for this position. They would visit me, and I would drive back home to visit in the eight months I was there. With what was offered to me by the owner, I believed I would be able to recover from my loss the previous year and move forward. Keep my home in Virginia Beach and bring my family closer to me in M.D. It was all a big lie. I found out that this company and its owner had a history of making promises and bringing Management in for the season and disposing of them; this year, it was me, and later, I found out they rid themselves of the managers that replaced me. We are now very close to the present. I return home defeated once again. I found work at the Moxy as a bartender for Ken Howe, the beverage director there. We were acquaintances back in my P.F. Chang’s days. He took me in, and I loved the place. I felt good to be back behind the bar. I had been working 80-90 hours a week when I was in Ocean City. It was nice to be back to a regular schedule. Unfortunately, I wasn’t making enough to cover my debt structure. Again, the thoughts of Kung Food Kitchen begin to return, and the rolls return. The conversation about a pop-up at the Moxy comes up between Ken and me. I get an unexpected phone call to fill in for a vendor at the Hooter’s Golf Charity Event. I explained that it had been almost five years since I had last done a pop-up. She said she needed someone and that someone had given her my number and suggested it to me. I figured, let’s do it. I’m back at it. I devise a menu, shoot it over, and it’s a go. I tell Ken at the Moxy about this, and he says well, hell, let’s do it here. So I say, yeah, why not? Coincidentally, I ended up doing both back-to-back. Hooter’s Event is on a Friday, and Kung Food Kitchen Return is on that Saturday. Within a few months, I will work seven days a week at Moxy. It is long hours and tough building and breaking down a little kitchen daily, but we are having a blast, and everyone loves the food. I had the 1st pop-up at Moxy at the end of October 2023 and ended my time there just a few weeks ago. I had the opportunity to be there for just a year with a great deal and relationship with the company. So here we are at the present to pull it all together. Where I believe Canvas Rebel contacted me about my business and its success, I’d have to say that I have found failure more than I have ever found success in my business. I have been a great support and big player in other businesses, but for my own, I have not quite gotten to what most would consider a success. I would consider my story one that is still in the making. We often hear of the stories of failure and those of success. I want to think that mine is the story that lies in between. From everything that has happened up until now, I can say that I am once again in a space that I am excited about, and the spirit of Kung Food Kitchen is very much alive. We were able to build our process and recipes during our time at Moxy. I have been asked back to the Boil Bay group to help them with Wang Jiang Lou’s Opening as an Operating Partner, with my old boss Raymond offering me a small percentage in the first location. Lastly and most importantly, I had a meeting with an old friend and potential investor. We spoke about my vision for my company and dream Vang Go Hospitality L.L.C., and he is now on board to fund the concept fully. I explained that I am committed to my promise to help get Wang Jiang Lou open and successful I explained that in the past, I had a bad habit of taking on too much and hoped we could still do business for 10 -12 months. He agrees and is excited for the future and how the rest of the story will go. Wang Jiang Lou will be opening in the next week. Kung Food Kitchen Experiment will begin its return for good in 10-12 months. I am not there yet but will always be on my way.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Kung Food Kitchen Experiment / Vang Go Hospitality LLC is a project that has been up and down for almost 20 years. It has now secured an investor to fully fund in the year 2025. I am currently the Operating Partner at Wang Jiang Lou. Opening October 2024
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Multi-tasking is term used a lot in the restaurant industry and something that is more detrimental to your work than a benefit. I try to stop myself from doing too many things at once. I find it hard to get anything done when I am working on three things at once. You get a feeling that you are doing a lot but the truth is that it is usually slowing you down.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Stay approachable and always present with you team,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thekitchenexperiment.com
- Instagram: @kungfoodkitchen
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kungfoodkitchen/
