Business
Talay Thai savours the taste of success - Kim Hong Dao, Bang Gia Dao and Niem Gia Dao win BDC's Young Entrepreneur Award for Nova Scotia
Talay Thai savours the taste of success - Kim Hong Dao, Bang Gia Dao and Niem Gia Dao win BDC's Y...
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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nOct. 20, 2009 (Canada NewsWire Group) -- HALIFAX, Oct. 20 /CNW Telbec/ -- When three young siblings, who came to Canada from Vietnam as children, opened Talay Thai Restaurant in 2005, they never expected to see crowds lining up daily less than a year later. Feeding the craving for more, they opened an equally popular establishment in 2007. For their remarkable accomplishments, Kim Hong Dao, 27, and her brothers Bang Gia Dao, 31, and Niem Gia Dao, 26, have won BDC's Young Entrepreneur Award for Nova Scotia and will be honoured tonight at a ceremony in Ottawa.Growing up in Halifax, the three always dreamed of owning their own restaurant. \"We come from a restaurant background and our ancestry is filled with entrepreneurs. My aunt owned a Chinese restaurant and we helped out there,\" explains Niem. After his sister Kim graduated from community college, she did some market research. \"There were a lot of Chinese restaurants in the area,\" Niem says. \"We wanted to do something new and different in Asian cuisine.\" Working together to launch the restaurant, they were joined by Kim's husband Wen, a Thai chef.Captivating restaurant-goersWith an ideal downtown location amid businesses, universities and hotels, they quickly attracted a local clientele, offering an authentic taste of Bangkok. Talay Thai's flavourful, healthy cuisine and enchanting atmosphere also wowed a food critic and, soon after opening, it was named one of Canada's top 10 new restaurants. \"From there, business took off very quickly. Just 10 months after we opened, we had line-ups every day.\"Undeterred by the challenges they faced in getting start-up financing, they persevered and lined up funding through government programs and from family. With no previous management experience, they took a variety of courses to learn things such as bookkeeping and ways to train staff. In less than a year, the siblings had paid off all their loans and begun building up their savings. As demand continued to grow, they decided to invest in their second restaurant, Cha Baa Thai, a bigger venture that they opened in 2007. \"This time, the bank saw our success in our financial statements; they were really impressed.\"In addition to sharing the same vision, the three attribute their success to a first-rate staff, a uniquely Thai ambiance, high-quality local ingredients and afford...