Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Gu.
Hi Thomas, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Well, I got started with cooking in college, really because I was just tired of eating cafeteria food or eating out every single day and I just got really into it from there. I’ve always been pretty obsessive about things I am passionate about so I’d cook new things all the time, and even cook for all of my roommates to see what they thought. After college, I lived in Japan for 3 years where I really got to see even more different cuisines, being closer to all of the Asian countries, and I was able to experiment with a lot of new ingredients I had never known about before.
After that, I moved back over here and I was a high school teacher/tennis coach, then left that to coach tennis at a tennis academy up here in The Woodlands/Conroe area but that was really just a transitional job until I found out what I wanted to do next, which ended up being this pop-up business.
The noodles started because I literally saw a video on Facebook of someone hand pulling noodles and I was like wtffff that is so cool so naturally I got obsessed, I had to learn how to do it. Thinking back on it, the cinematography of that video was also probably one of the reasons why I thought it looked so cool lol
But anyways, after I saw that, I looked up so many videos and I spent a month waking up and going to the kitchen to prepare the dough I’d use later in the day to practice before even putting in my contacts and brushing my teeth. I practiced every single day to learn how to do what I saw, which I eventually found out was the toughest of the noodle pulling techniques in China, just my luck lmao
After I learned that technique, I wanted to learn the other hand pulling techniques, which came muuuuch easier and quicker since I had already learned the technique that was so difficult, and I thought, man, I want people to experience this, to see the technique behind the food, and also to feel and taste the difference of hand pulled noodles and authentic flavors compared to the largely Americanized or watered down stuff we find often find here, but that was just a thought in the back of my head.
One day I invited a couple of my closest friends over to experience the hand pulled noodles, and they were pretty blown away. A couple of months later at my birthday dinner, one of my best friends that had been there to try the noodles started saying that I should start a food business of some sort, so other people can experience my food. And he was really serious about it. At first, I had my doubts but then I thought, you know what, I’m just chilling at a transition job right now anyways, and YOLO, so let me give it a shot.
He was the one who introduced me to the idea of doing pop-ups, since he used to work at a brewery and saw that they would regularly schedule food vendors. I didn’t start with the hand-pulled noodles, but I knew that that was where I wanted to get to, and although there are still other styles of hand-pulled noodles I’d like to be able to show eventually, I’m happy that I’ve gotten to the point where I can at least make one variety for the people.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In terms of initial response to my food, that went over really well. The bigger problem was getting exposure since I was new so no one knew me. I’d e-mail or DM breweries or locations and some people would respond to me once and then ghost me, or some wouldn’t respond at all.
But I was blessed that people found me and played a big part in helping to put me in front of eyes, people like Jean of Sphryn Marketing, Chef Naoki of Shun, and Chef Yusuke (@poweredbyricehtx) of Hako Bento. I feel like they’ve always got my back, and even though I can’t see them all the time with all of our varying busy schedules, I’m forever grateful to them.
In terms of actually running the pop-up, it’s pretty taxing physically, because the only prep person and cook is me. The night before most pop-ups I get on average about 4 hours of sleep. There have been multiple occasions that I’ve slept for only an hour or less, usually before big festivals where I have to prepare hundreds of servings.
Even at the regular pop-ups, I’d say the majority of the time, I’m the cashier, the cook, and the server, so I just do my best.
Luckily, the friend that encouraged me to start, Carlos, will come out to help cashier if he’s free and the pop-up looks like it’s going to be busy. A lot of people have seen him and I always post him on Instagram. For the really big events like the food festivals, I like having a team of three, Carlos as the front man, me pulling noodles, and an assistant to help me finish dressing the dishes, otherwise I usually won’t participate. There is one person at the moment that I trust with helping me finish my dishes properly, a girl named Chia.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In the food scene, I’m known for making hand pulled noodles made-to-order in front of my customers. That’s my specialty, although I actually consider another specialty of mine to be my milk teas, that was actually the inspiration for my pop-up name.
The idea originally was to have food to go along with the teas, especially since I think the foods I make are characterized by intense flavor and impactful spices, the calm and subtle flavors along with the smooth texture of my milk teas are the perfect drink to go along with my food. Or just have them instead of coffee in the morning! My milk teas are lactose free so you won’t get the lactose bubble guts and have only about a third of the sugar content of typical ones you’d find at boba stores.
Ironically, since most of my pop-up spots are breweries, I rarely have a chance to bring them out to the public, but on two occasions now I’ve been able to sell them so a number of people now have gotten to try it so I’m happy about that!
Creatively, I do a lot of different things, I like photography, I make videos, I perform diabolo professionally from time to time (known as Chinese yoyo to some even though the nuance is different)
I’m probably most proud of actually starting this pop-up business and getting to where it is so far, because this kind of thing is the scariest thing of all. It’s always uncertain with how it’s going to go on a given day, it’s still uncertain as to where it will go as for the future.
If you ask me what I think it is that sets me apart from others, I’d have to say, based on my conversations with a lot of people in the business world, is that my primary driving force is not money. Even if business is decent or good at a location, if I feel disrespected or I feel like they don’t really care about me or what I do, I’m outta there. For that reason, I’m not the best businessman, but I don’t necessarily see myself as one. For me personally, it’s about what I see as art, and my passion, and sharing it with the people that want to experience it and support me.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
To be honest, I never looked for any of these things. I was lucky that people found me. I don’t have a strategy or act in a particularly thought-out way when trying to network or anything. I am just genuinely myself.
Contact Info:
- Email: teagucafe@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/teagucafe
- Facebook: facebook.com/teagucafe
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@teagucafe
Image Credits
@thefoodromantic
@tees_cravings
