Today we’d like to introduce you to Elvis Nguyen.
Elvis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in a small town called Port Arthur, Texas. There wasn’t much there, so I moved out on my own at the age of 20, 1.5 hours west to the city of Houston. I’ve always have dreams of making it big in the city so therefore I took the leap and never looked back ever since.
I tried the traditional route of enrolling in the University of Houston main campus for Pre-Pharmacy in hoping to fulfill my parent’s dreams of becoming a doctor. Coming from an Asian family with strict parents, if you don’t become a doctor, lawyer, or any high status ranking career. You are a failure in their eyes. I quickly figured out that school wasn’t for me and I was living my parent’s dreams instead of my own. At this rate, I would spend half my life in school. I decided to fast track my education and enrolled in a technical degree in surgical technology and worked my way up the corporate ladder making six figures working for Stryker Medical, one of Forbes top 500 companies. One day my friend presented me an opportunity to open a Beard Papa’s franchise. His high school friend already owned multiple franchises and this concept was fairly new to Texas.
I researched the company and quickly decided this is the break I’ve been waiting for during my journey. I quit my job at Stryker so that I could be my own boss. My friends said I was crazy leaving a six figure job that had a great 401k and medical benefits. They told me some people work their entire life to be where I am, and I am just stupid to throw that away. Well, if that’s the American dream, then let me wake up. My dream was to have control over my life everyday, not waking up to an alarm clock and having the freedom to live my life on my terms. Needless to say, on the grand opening day of Beard Papa’s, we broke the sales record of any grand opening in the entire world. This proves that hard work really does pay off.
Has it been a smooth road?
Taking the entrepreneurial route, it is never smooth. Opening my first business, I had to google a lot of things, because I simply did not know. Fortunately opening a franchise, most of the groundwork is done for you and the company has a plan already in place for you.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Beard Papa’s Bellaire story. Tell us more about the business.
Beard Papa’s is a massive Japanese cream puff chain. We are known for our fresh and natural, daily made delicious cream puffs filled with custard that is made from 100% real vanilla beans.
I am proud to say we are the biggest stand-alone store in the entire world. Everything’s bigger in Texas right?
What sets us apart from others is that we are located in the heart of Chinatown Houston, a very hot tourist attraction destination. We also serve a variety of cream puffs, along with different flavored eclairs, chocolate fondants, cheesecake, and even mochi ice cream!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The franchisor already has plans to scale this chain significantly in the US. I am working on a second location as we speak!
Contact Info:
- Address: 9393 Bellaire Blvd. Suite G
Houston, TX 77036 - Website: https://beardpapas.com/
- Phone: 8324095844
- Email: beardpapasbellairehtx@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/beardpapasbellairehtx?igshid=1g214spu0toyj
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beardpapasbellairehtx/
- Twitter: @Bpapasbellaire
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