EPISODE 0030 - Monica Wong & Quynh Nguyen - Little Green Cyclo

Little Green Cyclo began in 2010 with one gourmet food truck serving up healthy & delicious Vietnamese meals throughout the Bay Area. Since then, we have built out our 5,000 square ft commercial kitchen/commissary.

We’ve been asked for years about when we will open a brick and mortar location. Well, now you can finally enjoy our delicious and healthy meals for breakfast, lunch & happy hour in Brisbane. Our new concept, Little Green Cyclo Bistro, is located at 2000 Sierra Point along the Brisbane Marina.

Our continued efforts to further provide access to our products 24/7 has led us to our smart vending kiosks. In this age of instant gratification, you won’t be able to get a healthy meal quicker than what we can provide to you in 1 minute or less!

Vietnamese coffee was one of the first menu items we served 10 years ago and has remained one of our most popular drinks. Being able to finally source premium single-origin beans from farms directly in Vietnam, we are now able to offer our signature line of Vietnamese coffee products.

Monica Wong Co-founder & CEO

Monica Wong graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Having started her career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles, she then moved over to trading at Montgomery Securities in San Francisco and eventually joined Prudential Financial as a portfolio manager.

Monica grew up in Massachusetts and was introduced to the food and beverage industry when her family opened the first Chinese restaurant in downtown Boston. Growing up, Monica wasn’t interested in the family business, she wanted to strike out on her own and follow a different path. And that she did; for 20 years she was fostering her career in finance.

When Monica decided to retire from finance, there was nothing she wanted to do more than start her own food business. She had come full circle, remembering what she loved most about her family’s restaurants and was determined to make this her new career.

In 2010, Monica Wong joined Nguyen to establish LGC, Bay Area’s first gourmet Vietnamese food truck serving up healthy & delicious Vietnamese street food. LGC was the winner of the 2011 Chase Sapphire’s San Francisco Favorite Food Truck award. In 2017, UCSF designated LGC as a Living Green Vendor & Diverse Supplier. In 2018 Visa named LGC as one of 50 Small Business National Winners of the Visa Cashless Challenge. In 2019, LGC was one of the first partners featured by DoorDash in their Kitchens Without Borders program.

LGC has evolved into a food service company with 3 food trucks, a 5,000 square ft commercial kitchen/commissary, a bistro, a full line of packaged food products, smart vending kiosks and our signature line of ready to drink Vietnamese coffee.

Quynh Nguyen - Co-founder and Executive Chef

Quynh Nguyen graduated from San Jose State with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems. In 2005, after spending five years as a Webmaster, Quynh opted for a career change when she discovered Cajun food and started Gumbo Jumbo, a full-service Cajun Fusion restaurant in downtown San Jose. This was Quynh’s first foray into creating an entire Cajun menu featuring fresh crawfish & crab, along with etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya & beignets.

Quynh grew up in Saigon and traveled throughout Vietnam as a professional table tennis player on the country’s national team. While visiting all the different regions, she was able to experience the truly amazing delicacies Vietnam had to offer.

While creating Cajun delights was satisfying, Quynh wanted to cook food that she grew up with and loved. In 2010, Quynh joined Monica Wong to establish LGC, Bay Area’s first gourmet Vietnamese food truck. For the past 10 years, Quynh has created over 300 food and drink specials showcasing all the different regions of Vietnam.

In 2019, LGC collaborated with Monterey Bay Aquarium to raise awareness about ocean sustainability. During this 3-month partnership, Quynh crafted a special menu featuring local rock cod on Seafood Watch’s Green List that could be served on our food trucks using only minimal service ware and no utensils. LGC proudly served local, sustainable fish tacos, onigiri rice balls and banh mis at events like Hardly Strictly Blue Grass, Menlo Park SummerFest, Off the Grid Presidio, Ft Mason & Eat Real.

Our latest venture brings us to the central highlands of Vietnam where we are sourcing single-origin specialty coffee beans from families practicing the organic methods of farming. We have just introduced our signature ready to drink coffee line which will soon be joined by many more Vietnamese coffee-related surprises!

Little Green Cyclo

https://www.littlegreencyclo.com

SHOW NOTES

Vietnamese COFFEE LGC

https://coffeelgc.com

Chairman Bao

http://www.hailthechairman.com

Senior Sisig

https://www.senorsisig.com

Curry Up Now

https://www.curryupnow.com

Off The Grid