Meet Linda Nguyen of Linda’s Tropical Fruits

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Nguyen.

Linda, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was in the insurance industry for the about 10 years before getting into the exotic produce business. It must have been serendipitous because my change of careers coincided with the birth of our little girl. Prior to my pregnancy, I wanted to visit a friend who lived in Florida. However, it was recommended by my doctor that I didn’t fly after my 3rd trimester. Seeing as how I had a small window, my husband and I quickly booked our flights to West Palm Beach. We were on our way to sunny Florida for the first time!

Once we landed in Florida we didn’t have a set agenda. The visit was mainly to catch up with a long time friend that moved there years ago. She was gracious enough to have us as her guest in her home. We had a wonderful time catching up and going out to dinners.

During one of our many conversations, she mentioned that she had visited some fruit farms in Homestead, FL. She told me that they grew many one of my favorite fruits here in Florida including soursop. So that quickly became part of our plans. The very next day my husband and I set out to Miami then on to Homestead. Miami was great! The weather was perfect and the food was incredible. However, my thoughts were on Homestead. I was so excited to visit these farms. It might have been the pregnancy but I couldn’t wait to enjoy the fresh soursop. I haven’t had this fruit fresh off the tree since my childhood in Vietnam. I mostly had it frozen during our time in California.

When we got to the farms, I was in heaven. Not only did they have soursop, they had so many more fruits that I didn’t know about. I bought everything! I immediately posted on social media. Almost instantly my friends back in California all commented and started asking me to bring some back. I bought as much as I could to bring back to California between my husband and I. It was heavy, to say the least, but it was all worth it. I made a lot of my initial contacts during that first visit.

Back home in California, I ate until I had my fill and gifted the rest of the soursop to our friends and family. It was also during that time I realized how much of a demand there was for this. It made me wonder why the markets here in California didn’t carry it. So I started asking around. I went to all the Asian supermarkets and spoke with all the produce purchasers. Apparently, most of the farms in FL found it to be too much trouble to ship all the way to California. There were also challenges with bringing in fruit to CA.

The California Department of agriculture had a lot of rules. So most grocery stores and farms didn’t want to deal with it. According to the farms in Florida the sell out of fruit from a local business. What incentive is there for them to have to pack and then ship out their product? I was still very determined to find someone willing the send me fruit all the way to California. When I was about 7 months pregnant I took my final leave of absence from the insurance business. Being the busy bee that I am, I simply couldn’t just sit still at home. So.. I started calling all the farms in Florida again. I had nothing but time at home. I was determined to find someone willing to ship some fruit across to country to me. I called and I called and I called with no luck. Everyone said the same thing. “It’s too much trouble.

There are too many regulations. We don’t grow enough to ship that far west. I make enough money from just our local business.” I started to get to the very end of my list of farms to call. Then I made a final plea with a farmer that I connected with on a personal level. I told him to look, “I’ll make this completely risk free for you. I’ll pay more than the market price. I will guarantee that I won’t return any damaged product from the shipping. I’ll even deposit the money into your account before you even pick the fruits off the trees. There’s no way for you to lose. I’m taking all the risk.”

That was when I finally convince a farmer from Florida to ship me my first shipment of soursop to California. Still… it was tough in the beginning. I had a lot to learn about the regulations and rules regarding fruit coming into CA. However, I started earning a reputation as someone honest to work with. I was also paying top dollar to the farmers in Florida. Eventually, I was able to turn my passion for fruit into a wholesale business. I started getting my fruit into the local Asian supermarkets. All of this stemmed from me being bored at home pregnant wife who loves fruit.

However, just as things got rolling for me my husband had a huge business opportunity.

His company was expanding and they chose Houston, TX as their next city to expand in. I had conflicting feelings about the move. I’ve been a California girl most of my life. I had friends, family and a thriving business in California. The thought of leaving it all behind to head to hot and humid Houston didn’t excite me right away. We had about a year to make our final decision. During that time we visited Houston quite a bit. I still wasn’t sure about the move but I decided to support my husband. So we sold everything and move here Houston in August of 2016.

Once we got here my husband was immediately busy with work. I found myself with a lot of free time. So I started exploring the city. I was so taken back by how nice everyone here was. The hospitality from total strangers was great! I also got to know China Town in Houston pretty well. What I found out was that the wholesale side of the produce and fruit business was already established. There were companies that have been here for multiple generations. It would be next to impossible for me to break in and compete with them for their business. BUT… what I didn’t see was any retailer that specializes in just fruit. Sure the big Asian markets carried some of the items that I would carry. The problem for them is that they have a million products to stock and maintain. I’m only interested in exotic fruits.

It was then that I decided I would get into the retail side of the fruit and produce business. My plan was to find a small 1500 square foot space to set up a shop specializing in fruits. It was scary because I didn’t know if there would be a market for it. I kept asking myself, “Houston is such a big city with a large Asian population. Why hasn’t anyone else done it?” I looked and I looked and I couldn’t find anyone that was doing what I wanted to do. It was odd to me because Texas has so much more access to the fruits coming out of Florida. I found out that there were quite a number of farms that already have routes here in Texas. This made it a lot easier for me to get the product.

With the support of my family and I started looking for a retail space. I found the perfect location at 10600 Bellaire Blvd in China Town. It used to be an insurance office of all things. I thought that was funny cause that was the industry I came from. The things is though because space used to just be an office I had a lot of work to do. I had to covert space into a produce store with new plumbing to accommodate wash stations, mop sinks, and new electrical to support the refrigeration. So much time and effort went into getting the space ready but we finally opened. It’s been great!

We quickly found out that there’s definitely a market for this here. All of my customers come to me because they know I only sell the best fruit I can find. I’m small so I focus on quality. I also focus on customer service. I’ve been able to introduce new and different fruits into some many people lives. I love what I do because of the enjoyment I see from my customers. I had a customer that was going through chemotherapy. She told me that the soursop fruit was the only thing that she was able to hold down. Apparently, she was getting so weak because everything she ate she threw up. When she found out that soursop was high in antioxidants she became a customer and them a friend.

I’m happy to say that she’s fully recovered. I’m also realizing that more and more people are going away from a meat-based diet. The number of vegans and vegetarians is increasing every day. People are starting to look for alternatives to apple, oranges, and bananas. We sell so much jackfruit because of all the marketing jackfruit gets. I’ve even had customers use jackfruit to make meatless BBQ sandwiches.

The city of Houston has been wonderful to me and my family. We’re looking forward to introducing exotic fruits from Asia, South America, and the Pacific Islands to the general public.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Construction, Construction, Construction. This has been the greatest challenge for me.

This is my first brick and mortar business. There was a lot that I simply didn’t know. This is also my business separate from my husband. I wanted to bake this cake by myself.

So I had some challenges early on with choosing the wrong architects and construction company. Then Harvey happened and it causes further delays. The hurricane in the Gulf also devastated a lot of my farms in Florida. There were moments that felt like I just couldn’t get a break. Our plans in the city kept getting rejected. Plus the city was so backed up because of the hurricane, it took forever for my plans to get reviewed.

When I realized how incompetent my architects were, I finally had to fire them. This was a huge set back because I basically wasted so much time and now have to start over. My husband help point me to the construction company he used for his restaurant. When I met with Josh from Constructions Concepts everything went smoother. There were still small bumps in the road but we got through it.

Please tell us about Linda’s Tropical Fruits.
We specialize in exotic and hard to find fruits and produce. I’m most proud of our business for helping to introduce the general public to new and exciting flavors from around the world. We’re known for the selection and quality of our fruits. I also happen to be very friendly so my customers quickly become my friends. What sets us apart from the big grocery store is we only sell fruits. I have the time and space to make sure I only sell the best.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have interviewed my architect company better.

Contact Info:

• Address: 10600 Bellaire Blvd #114
  Houston, TX 77072
• Website: www.lindastropicalfruits.com
• Phone: 832-509-9848
• Email: yummy@lindastropicalfruits.com
• Instagram: @lindastropical
• Facebook: @lindastropicalfruits

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