Today we’d like to introduce you to Sidni Sophabmixay and Settha Sophabmixay.
Sidni and Settha, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Inspiration/Origin Story: Our story starts off with our journey to Laos. It has been at least 30 years for both Settha and me since we left our birth country. We knew that our Lao journey was just the beginning. We had an agenda to discover our past so that we can better our future. We took lots of notes with big ideas. Yes, it inspired us. A month after returning from Laos, we took a leap and registered and launched our company in the state of Texas selling imported Thip-Khao, a woven bamboo container to hold sticky-rice and we had both regular, traditional types and heart-shaped ones. We recruited our family in Laos, our cousins, and with the help of Uncle and Aunt, we were taking shipments every other month. We knew this was a stepping stone to get into producing Lao Food. So, a year later in March of 2018, we decided to launch Rice Girl Foods Jaew Bong.
We wanted a product that was an item specifically originating from Laos. We wanted something that people might want to eat a lot of but had no time to make. Jaew Bong is definitely that. It is a spicy dipping paste that can spruce up any boring meal and often pairs well with any meat/protein dish or even a soup bowl. So, inspired by a couple of friends who have been successful with their business, we wanted to give it a shot. We launched the jaew bong in early March of 2018. And so a year later, we are still a small thriving business.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting a business has been interesting, to say the least. It hasn’t been a smooth road, honestly. Not a lot of people are familiar with Jaew Bong. It is a product that is more familiar to Lao people and even so, not many of us have had it before. For instance, our millennials or 2nd generation Lao-Americans sometimes do not have access to authentic Lao foods. Or maybe they haven’t been introduced to it. Store owners that are Lao tell us that they make their own jaew bong or they have someone else who brings it in to sell in their store already. So, we get turned away. We have had success, however, getting into a couple of stores that sell Asian food in general.
Additionally, learning about permitting and licensing has been a challenge. It took us several attempts to contact the right people to get it permitted.
The only advice I can offer to women or young women is that they should follow their passions. There are a lot of resources available that can help with starting up a business in whatever area they choose to pursue. Get on social media, like IG and follow similar accounts to learn how they do it, to gather some ideas. The online world is the future. Get to know different social media platforms and use them. For instance, we have an IG account @ricegirlfoods, and we get on there to post pictures of how we like to eat our jaew bong as well as sharing our foodie adventures. It’s FREE. Take advantage of that and build a following. Also, nothing is better than word-of-mouth. If people like your product they will tell others and so on.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Currently, I am a full-time teacher with the Dallas ISD. Settha is the Director of an airplane parts manufacturing company located in Mansfield. We leave work to go to Rice Girl Foods and work on any orders we may have the past couple of days. With Rice Girl Foods, I handle food preparations, like getting all the ingredients together and also processing the orders. I also do my share of shopping for ingredients and supplies. I also handle housekeeping and clean-up of the workroom/space after we finish.
Settha takes care of the behind-the-scenes work like making sure our licensing is set and updating our certificates and our building space is up to code. He also checks our emails and looks after our website to allow for online orders. I am proud of how everything came together when it was supposed to. The process of making the jaew bong also becomes easier after you have done so many jars. Rice Girl Foods prides ourselves in ensuring that our product is made from quality ingredients. We want people to enjoy a unique item in the market and perhaps learn or refresh their knowledge about a culture through food.
Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
As far as networking, we try to make it out to local events around the city and even across States. We present our product by doing a DEMO and offering people the chance to taste our sauce before they buy. We have had success in doing so and sometimes even selling out of our jars of sauce that we have on hand. We have met so many like-minded individuals and have been able to keep in touch with them. Also, there are a lot of people who have never heard of jaew bong and it is nice to be in the stores or at the events to educate those inquiring minds.
Pricing:
- Original $5
- Extra Spicy $5
- S/H Flat rate fee
Contact Info:
- Address: 1275 N. Main St.
Mansfield, TX - Website: www.ricegirlfoods.com
- Phone: 8175839429
- Email: customercare@ricegirlfoods.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ricegirlfoods/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ricegirlfoods/
Image Credit:
Sidni Sophabmixay
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