Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tam Truong. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tam, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later
At 46 years of age, I sometimes look back and wish I started my sweets journey just 10-15 years earlier. My family immigrated from Vietnam when I was only 3 yrs old. Growing up as the oldest daughter of 3 being raised by a single mother, I had a lot of pressure and responsibilities. A career in one of the common jobs, such as doctor or lawyer, was emphasized in order to achieve a happy and successful life. After graduating college and going through various jobs in corporate America, it wasn’t until I discovered baking that I found my true passion.
While I had always loved eating pastries and baking, it wasn’t until I became a mother at the age of 34 that the passion began to do more than simmer. With the prevalence of social media I began an obsession with watching 1 minute cake decorating videos. After my second child, I began to experiment with cake decorating. Using those 1 minute videos to teach myself, I began making cakes and posting them on instagram.
My 9-5 job as a real estate appraiser, was by no means creative and was stressful. Cake decorating and baking provided an outlet for my creativity and allowed me to decompress. It was my happy place. It was from my instagram page that a Food network story producer found me and encouraged me to apply for a show they were casting. It was being on the show that introduced me to the world of candy.
After leaving the show, I knew I wanted to continue my sugar journey but I knew I couldn’t sustain my passion with only cake decorating. While I love decorating an elaborate custom cake, not everyone can afford a custom cake which could take days to weeks to decorate. It was my experience on the show that lead me to consider making candy. Candy can be produced on a larger scale without the need for creative talent like cake decorating. Candy can continue to bring smiles and joy to others, which is what fuels my love for baking.
Now at 46, I’m 2 years into my candy business working pop-up markets, farmers markets, and wholesaling my soft brittle all while maintaining my 9-5 job and continuing to raise my 2 kids. Looking back, I wish I was 10-15 yrs younger with more energy and at a place where I was open to taking on more risk in my career aiming to work in a field that brought me joy. I wish I had realized early on that having a happy and successful career doesn’t require me to follow the same path as others, but to look at the things that drive my own passion.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
In my Asian culture, food is what brings people together. We share our love through food and it gives me joy to see others smile when they taste one of my treats. With two young kids who love their treats, I wanted to provide them something that wasn’t all bad. With my soft brittle, it’s not as sweet as other candies, has the texture of a shortbread cookie and has the added protein. All of my candy is handmade in small batches. With the addition of my own nut butter I’ve turned a traditional candy, that has had a bad reputation of breaking teeth, to something that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
With it’s cookie-like crumble, it goes beyond just a candy. It can be used as a topping over; yogurt, ice cream, cheesecake, pie, party mix or added to a charcuterie board. With almost 35 grams of protein in each bag, this is one candy you won’t regret eating.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Soft brittle is unique. 95% of people I’ve spoken with never knew it existed. This was a great selling point for my product but can also be a drawback. With a great tasting product that didn’t exist in most stores, I was excited to pitch to grocery stores because I knew they would love it once they tried it. At the beginning of my launch, my goal was to get on as many shelves as possible. Once I made it into a chain store, I was beyond excited and began to imagine the exponential growth. After being in 24 stores for almost 4 months several issues began to surface. Each store acts independently even though they have the same ownership. This became a nightmare when managing shipments, orders, and invoices. As a maker of a product, you put care and love into your product, but as soon as it leaves your hands, others don’t treat it with the same care. Many packages were damaged due to handling which resulted in lost revenue. The product wasn’t selling. While I knew this may happen since it’s an unknown product, the reality is that your product is lost on the shelf next to the hundreds of other products. To boost sales, I began conducting 3 hour sample demos at each store traveling throughout the state of Oregon. This kept me away from my family on the weekends and holidays, and was physically and mentally exhausting.
The following year, provided a new opportunity. I was invited to exhibit at the Winter Fancy Food show in Las Vegas. The show was only open to members in the manufactured food industry and allowed me an opportunity to meet with retail buyers- big and small, distributors, and other individuals in the industry. It was through this show that I realized that grocery stores wasn’t where I wanted to be. There are other channels that would be more fitting for my artisanal product such as gift stores, hotels, and food service. This was when I realized I needed to pivot. After returning from the show, one of my grocery store chains made the decision to discontinue carrying my product due to lack of sales. If I hadn’t just come back form the Fancy Food show and heard this information, I would’ve felt dejected. But given with the experience I had over the last year and after being at the Fancy Food show, I had a sense of relief,,
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Face to face in person has always been the best way to source new customers for us. Soft brittle candy is unknown. I’ve heard comments such as, “isn’t soft brittle an oxymoron?”, “is it fudge-like?”, “is it a caramel?”, “is it really brittle if it’s soft?” Because so many people just can’t grasp how brittle can be soft, it’s always been our best approach to get it into their mouths. Therefore, demos, pop-up markets, farmers markets, holiday shows, just anywhere that allows us to be there in person passing out samples and telling our story has been the best approach. Once people try it, they’ll understand it, and share it with others. Word of mouth has always been a good source of new customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tamssweets.com
- Instagram: tamssweets
- Facebook: tamssweets
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/tam-truong-27b25a1
