COLLEGE STATION, Texas — For the past few months, KAGS has been putting a spotlight on local businesses who need support during this pandemic.
We talked with the owner of a College Station business today who could use some of that support.
Van Tran’s passion for the restaurant industry after coming from Vietnam for school.
“I worked through a lot of restaurants to pay for my college, from there, I become love with this business,” he said.
Eventually, Van saved enough money to open up Nam Cafe and BoneAppetea in Northgate.
Soon after, opening a second Nam location in South College station.
Tran said, “The goal was to support the students the churchgoers and the Northgate community, and it has been tremendous. We have a lot of regular customers we have a lot of kids who come in every day.”
Selling Vietnamese noodle soup, banh mi, rice and tea next door, business has been great up until the past couple months.
“Nobody teaches us how to deal with this... we try to think on our feet and try to adapt to the new normal,” he said.
The restaurants have implemented online ordering, curbside service, limited seating and patio seating.
Through all of this though, Tran is still thankful.
He said, “to be here in Bryan College Station, we are very blessed to be surrounded with a lot of kindhearted people, people who love our food, people willing to give us a try.”
If there’s anything he hopes people will do, it’s support all local businesses in the area.
“There’s a lot of people that need help. Our main source of income are gone. What we try to do now is to survive,” Tran said, “people give us hope. That’s how we see the light at the end of the tunnel because at the end of the day, without the support we’ve been getting, we would’ve been gone or shut down for a while now.”
Lately, Nam Cafe also has also been helping feed local first responders, and you can find out more about them on their website and Facebook page.