Today we’d like to introduce you to Huy Hong and KimDan Tran.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We hatched the idea to do a bubble tea shop years ago. I’m a pharmacist and my wife is a cosmetologist, but we dreamed of having our own business. And we both love bubble tea.
The concept behind everything we do is to give Arlington and the surrounding area a place to hang out, whenever my friends and I went to meet up, it seemed like it was always Starbucks. We thought, ‘Why don’t we have a place similar to that, where friends can meet up.'”
We’ve invested plenty in the decor, with natural materials like wood and brick to give personality and charm to what is a storefront in a strip mall. And we’re using glass and ceramic cups, not plastic.
The name is not a day or an anniversary, but it does have a meaning,
“1102 consists of 1=ONLY, 1=ONE, 0=NO, 2=SECOND. Put them all together 1102= ONLY ONE NO SECOND. We’re saying we are unique, we are one of a kind.”
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?
There were and are still many challenges and roadblocks since we are family owned business not franchise. We had to build everything from scratch, we meant all from the smallest to the biggest ones. Getting customers trust was also a huge challenge for us. We had to introduce our products and services in hope to be accepted by our valued customers. Starting up a business from scratch was not easy as we thought or imaged. Yet we opt for challenges to bring customers the best quality products and services at all times.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with 1102 Bubble Tea & Bites – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are serving regular tea and bubble tea, but we also have a way for you to customize your own milk tea. We’ll give you a hot pot, and you can take different milk tea flavors and toppings. We have all the usual items people put in their tea, like boba tapioca balls, pudding, fruit jellies, flan, and mochi, the chewy rice sweet — we have all of those. You can mix your own drink yourself, or go with a group and share.
We’re also doing something different from the usual bubble tea spot, in that our drinks can be personally customized.
We also do Italian and French sodas, sorbets, French smoothies, smoothies, including a decadent one blending macha with cookies. That does it for the drink part. The “bites” consist of snacks and desserts, including some pretty novel creations, mostly dreamed up by my wife KimDan.
There’s a spring roll with beef jerky and mango mayonnaise, and “hot fire bread,” their version of a banh mi sandwich with shredded pork and sriracha sauce on a baguette. There’s an egg cake that’s a little like a custard cheesecake. With one of our most famous rice paper salad, rice paper tacos, sesame cracker salad, crunchy crabmeat, spicy cheezy chicken/octopus will make you fall into heaven of Vietnamese street food.
There are all kinds of desserts: crème brûlée, flan, mousse, and yogurt. And something they call “plant pot ice cream,” with ice cream in a pot that you eat with a cute little shovel.
We currently offer coffee including espresso, Vietnamese black/milk coffee, coconut coffee, egg coffee, and wide various different flavors mocha iceblend.
We are proud to be family owned bubble tea, not a franchise. We can fly as high as our ideas lead us. We are proud to be best bubble tea and customer service in DFW area. We are offer unbeatable, consistent bubble tea and service. We are known for “House of 1102 Signature Lightbulb” which includes class lightbulb and our modern WATTS lightbulb. They can be taken home with you!!!
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are excited to have our 2nd location open up end of 2017 early 2018 in Waco, Texas. We will keep expanding as opportunities come up. We want to be known as brand name in the future.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3610 S. Cooper St, 110B, Arlington TX 76015
804 S. 7th St, 103, Waco TX 76706 - Website: www.1102bubbleteaandbites.com
- Phone: 817-832-7791 (Arlington) and 254-754-1102 (Waco)
- Email: 1102teaandbites@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/847918532010208/1102-bubble-tea-bites/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1102bubbleteaandbites/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/1102-bubble-tea-and-bites-arlington-3
Max Hoang Trinh 
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
