Member Spotlight: Thongsay Thai

Channelling family heritage and a devout passion for cooking great food, Thongsay Thai have been treating tongues around their Devonshire base for a few years now. Serving up delicious and authentic Thai dishes from their distinct mobile unit, the Stevenson family have found street food to be a viable vehicle for them to carve out their own path in business. To find out some more about the venture and the journey so far, we spoke with the Thongsay Thai team:

What appealed to you about beginning your own independent hospitality journey?

When we (my wife, myself and our young son) moved to the U.K from Thailand it was one way for my wife to start earning some money using her chef skills and for her to do something she was used to and good at.

We could start small and work around our family commitments at first and grow from there. It was a no brainer with Thongsay’s cooking skills to bring Thai cooking to our small Devon town and to begin a small scale catering business.

What do you find most rewarding about running your own business?

Control. We also had a restaurant for 3 years and it takes over your life. If you are into that and the demanding commitment suits you then it’s great but with a young family we wanted to be able to work at certain times and also not work at other times.

Being a small mobile catering business it has given us more control with what type of gigs and locations we look to trade at. As our kids have got older we have more freedom to increase our hours and operations. But since starting this business I haven’t missed a sports day, football fixture or school play, summer is busy but we get to take off at least some time for holidays even during busy periods.

What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?

Confidence in ourselves. With so many other food traders we were always worried about competition and finding our place in the local food scene. I think once you’ve put yourself out there (sometimes right in the deep end) you learn pretty quickly to trust your judgement, systems and authenticity in wanting to provide great food and vibes for your customers and people in general.

I think it comes with time and experience and of course talking and learning from other foodies and traders that has been invaluable.

What inspires you most in independent hospitality?

Other traders. So many awesome street food vans, trucks, gazebos, pop ups, markets and the best food from all around the world.

If you need inspiration just go to a local street food market and try some food, it opens your eyes to so many ideas with flavours, branding, presentation and quality of food. It’s hard not to be inspired.

What does success look like to you?

Right now, providing for our family. Enough quality time with our sons while they are young and continuing to grow and gather knowledge and experience.

What is the plan for the future?

Creating a business where my wife doesn’t have to be at the wok all the time. As my wife has been cooking since she was ten we are looking at ways to bring her great food to people without her having to actually be the one who cooks.

We are dabbling in creating our own range of sauces and also perhaps expanding the food truck business and getting teams of people out there.

If not working in hospitality, what would you be doing?

Travel blogging perhaps. We love travelling and experiencing what other countries have to offer, it would be amazing to be able to turn that into a source of income…Who knows what the future holds.

You can find out more about Thongsay Thai and follow their journey here.