Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vivian & Alyx. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Vivian &, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Our story begins in 2020, Alyx and I, Vivian, came from creative backgrounds. Alyx had experience as a pixel artist, fashion director, and graphic designer. Vivian was a photographer and UI/UX designer. Both had an affinity for boba and wanted to give back, as well as participate in the creative community.

Vivian grew up in San Jose, CA as a creative artist. Drawing, dancing, painting, sculpting and more were my hobbies. In high school, I did not find a creative community to be a part of that shared the same interests. Art electives were underfunded and wasn’t seen as a great career choice so I had thought being creative wasn’t what I was going to do growing up. Once I went to college, that was a different story. I found creative friends and a community that supported what I wanted to do! We would have creative hangouts and work sessions in boba shops. Boba shops always carried a fond memory because it was also how my family & I hung out once in awhile. I had always wanted my own boba shop when I was a kid and I even distinctly remember asking my parents if they could open up a boba shop as they were business owners too, and they said, “It’s a lot of work.” (Indeed it is, but it is fun to get to work with someone you love.) So I made sure during my time in school, to learn how to be a bobarista, so someday I could open my own shop. And that dream happened a lot sooner than I thought once I met Alyx.

For Alyx, it all started when he was a kid exploring the wonders of his Dad’s restaurant. He would see his parents work with people of Latin descent, and feed people from all walks of life in their restaurant in Austin. As a kid, his family enjoyed eating out at different restaurants ranging in different cuisines and he enjoyed the aspect of how he could have a similar dish in each place. This was when he had an integral thought that all cultures have a connection no matter what. At first he couldn’t even determine what cuisine was a part of which culture. He just knew what the food item was, and that it tasted great! He grew up to figure out what different food came from which culture and eventually how to cook the cuisines that he enjoyed as a kid. After learning and experiencing cooking from friends and family and looking through different recipes online, he saw the underlying connection through the dishes he would make. He wanted to cook more and learn more about flavors and eventually have his own restaurant someday. So coincidentally when we met & quarantined together, we both decided to pursue a dream we had.

And at that moment sparks flew.

We both wanted to have a place where we could call home. Integrating our joys of creativity, love for boba, and our search for connection. At first we didn’t have a name, we were just sharing our drinks with friends and family, they told us we should sell it. And one day, a friend tells Alyx, “ You’re The Boba Plug Now!” and that is what kicked it off. So we started off with having pop-ups with our Friend and Mentor Donny Sirisavath from Khao Noodle Shop, and then we went to connect with people from different backgrounds, and showcase a menu through the shared experiences. At the time we didn’t understand our mission, or even what our goal was, we just wanted to have fun really. But thinking back to it, it was there all along, from hosting AAPI themed Night Markets to collaborating with our friends, we started the journey. and that journey became what is now our mission.

Our Mission is to foster creativity and cultural connection through boba!

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 background and context?

The Boba Plug is where fun, creativity, and culture aligns.

We are a boba tea shop that plays with their food! We are the only boba shop in DFW made from scratch and fresh ingredients where our drinks are deconstructions of dessert items. We ensure that research of different cultures and cuisines are done before releasing them. Not only are our drinks creative and fun, they are also made from scratch and fresh ingredients.

During the pandemic, we saw a rise in restaurant businesses struggling and wanted to help bring awareness and more customers to support and know these small businesses. We knew at heart, The Boba Plug had to be a collaboration business model. We went to speak with the business owners to really get to know them first hand. What made them passionate about being a business owner? What about their culture and themselves are they proud of? What struggles were they facing? With the newly built connection and friendship, we used that as a catalyst to create a completely tailored menu that combined some favorites from both of our cultures to share. Such as a one-of-a-kind drink or a themed event to highlight what the business best specialized in.

From collaborations to hosting Markets, it is engrained at our very core to provide a safe space for those looking to connect, create, and enjoy boba.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As business owners, we always have to pivot and that’s just part of the lifestyle! The current pivot we are actually challenged with is: what do we do after closing our temporary storefront?

So what happened to cause this?

Over the summer of 2023, we decided to try opening up a store by being inside a Korean Chicken restaurant. At first it was a location that supported our needs with an amazing landlord and we thought we were ready for it. But we had chosen customer facing hours that were really short and not ideal for our customers to come support us. We definitely felt the weight of our poor decision and pivoted to changing to weekend and evening hours. And introduced special limited drinks that are only available as first come first serve! We hoped it would help, but it barely did. To be honest, this was an eye-opening learning experience. We learned many lessons, but the top ones that might help you too is: That it takes a village to run a physical storefront, boba is a very competitive landscape, being consistent helps us and our customers, customers really love chicken, and that ya’ll really like our limited edition creative drinks!

So yes, we are closing doors to our temporary storefront, but this will now open it back up to more pop-ups and vending. AND we are now accepting new clients for wholesaling drink mixes and bottling. If you are reading this, let us know if your business or someone you know wants wholesale drink mixes or bottled drinks with us! Mention this article and we’ll get you your first order on us!

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Yes our business does wholesale, and direct to consumer bottling. We are also are looking into coaching people who want to start their own boba shop, or business. As a business we built ourselves from the ground up, and have dived into the e-commerce space, store shelves, and even selling drinks through our popups. As a business owner, you have to figure out what you are good at. Whether it’s putting all your eggs in one basket or spreading them into different areas. For us it made sense to wholesale, and create different products.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thebobaplug.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thebobaplug
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebobaplug/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebobaplug
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-boba-plug-richardson

Image Credits
Kathy Tran for the photo at Centre Vivian Luu And Alyx Nguyen for the Photos for The Boba Plug