Vietnamese takeaway food business opens first store at Nambour, Sunshine Coast

What started off as a hobby has turned into a popular Vietnamese takeaway business for a Sunshine Coast mother and her sister. Now the duo reveals their expansion plans.

A Sunshine Coast mum and her sister have created a thriving Vietnamese takeaway business with quirky takes on traditional rice paper rolls proving to be the recipe for success.

What started as a hobby has turned into a thriving business with the Phan sisters opening their first Vietnomnom takeaway food store.

Hien and Hoai Phan are preparing to open a store at Nambour after Vietnomnom grew too popular to operate from a food truck.

Hien, 31, said she started the business less than two years ago because she “wanted a hobby” while her two children went to school.

The business with everything from rice paper rolls to bahn mi and pho gained a loyal following at markets from Noosa to Caloundra with rolls being the hot menu items.

“Everything is made in house from marinating the meats to the sauces,” Hien said.

“Our traditional pork and prawn rolls are popular but my favourite is the smoked salmon, avocado and cream cheese.

Hien and Hoai Phan are opening a takeaway food store at Nambour after their Vietnomnom business outgrew its food van truck. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“That combination is something we came up with when we moved to the Sunshine Coast.”

Hien who moved to the region from Melbourne said the business took off during lockdown when they offered “catering boxes” for people stuck at home.

As businesses reopened and events have returned Hien said they have had catering orders almost every weekend.

“We had a small truck but we are at the point where we can’t fit it all,” she said.

“Now we’re catering for groups of up to 180 people.”

The pair started the search for a permanent location about six months ago.

Now they hope to open their Coronation Dr, Nambour, store by Easter.

“We live at Nambour and we have so much support here so this was the perfect place,” she said.

“We’ll still be doing catering but we’ve really wanted to open to the public for takeaway.”

Originally published as Vietnamese takeaway food business opens first store at Nambour, Sunshine Coast