A first-generation Vietnamese-American chef and food entrepreneur, Tony Vu helps local chefs launch business ventures.
As the founder of the Flint Social Club, Chef Tony Vu takes pride in helping local entrepreneurs pursue their dreams of becoming successful chefs and launching their own business ventures.
According to the FSC website (flintsocialclub.com), “We lower barriers for marginalized community members and provide business support as they launch and expand their hospitality projects in Flint, Michigan.”
Photos Courtesy of Tony Vu
Vu stated, “I’m a serial entrepreneur with a passion for innovative business models designed around social impact as a core value. I believe in the importance of leveraging business to positively impact people’s lives and do good in the world.”
This philosophy comes from Vu’s family background as war refugees from Vietnam, his father’s work ethic and values as he left everything behind and rebuilt his family’s lives.
“I love blending my creativity with business to do some really unique things and will always be sure to include my surrounding community to join in on the fun.”
“He became a medical doctor and served our small community in Millington, for 30 years,” he said of his father. “I took a bit of an alternate route, first as a touring musician working in IT for 15 years, then as a mountain climber and world traveler, and finally landing where I currently am in the hospitality industry. I love blending my creativity with business to do some really unique things and will always be sure to include my surrounding community to join in on the fun.”
MaMang, a popular eatery featuring Asian fare, was Vu’s official start at the Flint Farmers’ Market. Although it was definitely affected by the pandemic, he said, “We made it through and at points, even thrived. I ended up closing it because I really wanted to formally launch Flint Social Club as a 501c3 nonprofit to help fellow chef entrepreneurs in Flint grow. A space that we were working on fell through and in the moment, closing MaMang and launching Flint Social Club in its place felt like the right thing to do.”
FSC was born out of a desire to platform the really talented chef community here in Flint, Vu added.
“When I first came on the food scene here, I met a bunch of really passionate and dedicated cooks who slaved away in some really toxic kitchen environments, dreaming of a way they could share the food of their respective homes and cultures,” Vu said.
“A sold-out series of popups in collaboration with Kettering and Good Beans Cafe followed and it was wildly successful. In the following years, different community members reached out to get help launching their businesses and in turn, my chef friends and I became chef mentors. This laid the foundation for who we are today. At our core, we’re a mentoring and capacity-building program for chef entrepreneurs.”
FSC’s operations are centered around its employee-run teaching kitchen in the Flint Farmers’ Market where they have had four chefs leave to take leadership positions in other kitchens. Another chef started her own food stall in the Market called Say Cheese 810.
“Our main stall is in the Farmers’ Market, we have a pop-up space downtown in between the Dryden Building and The Ferris Wheel, and we have two food trailers that move around the city. This is in addition to our numerous pop-ups around Flint and even in Detroit and in Traverse City.
“Smashburgers are usually on the menu, as well as specialties from DJ Chef Nate and Chef Kyle from Golden Boy.”
“Starting in October, we’re launching our Street Food Readiness program in collaboration with 100k Ideas to help food entrepreneurs get licensed for street food vending,” Vu said. “You’ll be able to find them vending all kinds of delicious food out of our pop-up space at 601 S. Saginaw Street.”
FSC operations are open to the public.
“You can consistently find us at the Flint Farmers’ Market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, slinging pho, smashburgers, and Wu Tang Wings along with weekly staff specials.”
In addition to Asian cuisine, FSC is an expression of the amazing employees who run the shop, Vu said. “Smashburgers are usually on the menu, as well as specialties from DJ Chef Nate and Chef Kyle from Golden Boy.”
Vu said he is very proud of the work being done. “Opening up my restaurant in Traverse City and building a business model that gives back to the community was a big one. I started The Good Bowl with my business partner Soon Hagerty six years ago with a dollar-per-bowl donation model. During that time, we’ve given away over $170,000 to mostly local causes. I’m also really proud of the work we’ve done at FSC. In our short time of operating, we’ve helped launch 27 food businesses and 18 of them are still going strong and in various phases of growth.”
One of Vu’s near-term goals is finding the next home for their teaching kitchen. “Our future at the Farmers’ Market is in limbo due to circumstances outside of our control,” Vu said. “A long-term goal is our Coney Island Revival project and redeveloping the former Tom Z’s restaurant back into a much-needed diner space in Flint. We’ve got some really exciting plans for that and are looking for ways to continue our food service uninterrupted until then.”
Vu credits his family for much of his success.
“Food is life in my family. ‘MaMang’ means mom and I got my start in the industry armed with her recipes, and sometimes her, in my food truck Wraps N’ Rolls,” he shared. “Old-schoolers might remember her from our family restaurant called The Golden Seahorse which operated for about a decade in the 80s and 90s on Dort Highway. My partner Saku is an amazing home cook as well and we love cooking together. Her son Eiji has a budding Kimchi business we helped start called Kimchi & Eiji.”
Foodies into TV cooking shows can find Vu in Season 8, Episode 8 (2016) of Chef Guy Fieri’s show, “Guy’s Grocery Games.” Unfortunately, he did not win the competition. “Fun fact: It was early on in my cooking career – I had no idea what I was doing,” Vu said. “I was so scared and nervous that I almost didn’t board my flight to go out there!”
Vu offers a special shoutout to his “Chef Sensei” and brother from another mother, Duc Tran in Hoi An, Vietnam. “He was one of my big inspirations for cooking professionally and I often visit him to get inspired.”
When he’s not in the kitchen, Vu said he picked up playing golf about a year ago but isn’t very good at it, yet. “I get a little better each time and it’s fun to play and work on. I also love traveling and still try to find time to get out in the wide world and find the next adventure.”
