Community
What I Learned Watching My Friend Start A Food Business
February 23, 2024
The up-close journey of a first-time food business owner.
Tiffany Iung, a New York-based chef, radiates brightness. Meet her on the street or at her stall in Essex Market, and you’ll encounter this self-described “nice Brazilian-American lady” as a petite powerhouse dressed in bold, food-themed clothing that she picked up on one of her many world-trotting adventures.
I met Tiffany in 2018 during our NYU graduate food studies program. As I was younger than most in the course, I was fascinated by the many lives she had lived — like the time she spent, in her early 30s, selling sandwiches out of a vintage suitcase on a pink bicycle in Paris. We kept in touch after graduation and even lived together for a year.
A handful of the 2019 NYU Food Graduate cohort on final presentation day. Photo Credit: Frederikke Reinhardt
In September 2023, Tiff announced her most daring adventure yet: she would finally open her own permanent food business in New York City.
To me, it was as if everything she had accomplished before had simply been preparation for this. From waiting tables to holding various kitchen jobs to assisting at friends’ businesses, it felt like she was more than ready to run her own.
I asked Tiff if I could document her journey as a first-time business owner. I wanted to see up close what it was like for someone so experienced in the food world to take the plunge for herself, and after years of knowing her, I was very excited to see her succeed.
This is the story of my friend, Tiffany Iung, and what she learned during the first three months of running her own food stall, which she called Chomps Élysées.
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A lifelong dream
For as long as I’ve known her, Tiffany’s dream was to open a sandwich shop. She’s sold sandwiches at various points in her life, and even developed a small yet dedicated social media following after her 2009 sandwich stand in France. She would chat with people online, and from time to time, they'd inquire about her next adventure. “I didn't realize people were so invested in seeing me have a business again,” she told me.
In 2019, her last year of graduate school, Tiffany took on the role of Vendor Support Coordinator at the original Essex Market, situated just across the street from the current one. The space is a bustling cultural hub, hosting local food vendors in the heart of the Lower East Side.
Iung opened Chomps Élysées in an Essex Market stall that had been formerly occupied by a popular soup vendor.
The decision to finally pursue her dream “came from a moment of sadness and questioning what I wanted to do with my life,” Tiffany told me. In July 2023, Tiff applied for an empty stall in Essex Market and was invited for a menu tasting.
Tiffany quickly learned that she would have big shoes to fill. Prior to Chomps, the stall was occupied by Peasant Stock, a soup vendor with a loyal following. The market told Tiffany they wanted that stall to remain a soup vendor; Tiffany's dream of selling sandwiches had to be put on hold. While sandwiches and big vegetable-y salads were still the goal, she wouldn't be able to incorporate them into the menu for opening.
Sometimes, running your own business, you think, ‘I’m going to run it my way.’ But I’ve realized this business isn’t really about me.
Tiffany Iung
Chomps Élysées
On September 18th, 2023, Tiffany finally got access to the space. “I wanted my stall to feel like home,” she said. So, with boundless spirit and limited resources, Tiffany lugged belongings from her home in Ridgewood to the Lower East Side, creating a cozy stall with art from her living room on display and gadgets from her kitchen to use. The bright pops of yellow mixed with black polka dots represented her time in France and showcased her quirky personality: “strong, colorful, bright, and fun.” As a tease for opening day and to foster community, she had included her Instagram followers in branding decisions like the domain name – her followers voted for chomps.nyc and chompselysees.com, both of which she currently uses – and tape design.
A hand-stamped brown paper bag adds to Tiffany's cozy homemade appeal.
Opening week
In October, drawing closer to the opening of “Chomps,” as it is affectionately known, Tiffany felt jitters about whether she was mentally and physically ready. Despite logistical hurdles like not having the proper soup containers, Tiffany ripped off the band-aid on October 10th, 2023, and faced the first week with grit, relying on intuition, mentorship, and community support.
The first week brought excitement, with daily sell-outs around 2pm and positive feedback. When I caught up with her to see how it went, Tiffany was visibly exhausted from managing everything herself. She could barely prepare the soup for the next day, let alone plan for the next week. The steep learning curve of sizing up the quantity she needed to prepare was overwhelming. Not to mention, the amount of onions she was going through was unfathomable.
Tiffany was facing the facts of balancing personal aspirations with business realities: a never-ending to-do list, pricing for profitability, and paying herself. “I want to work faster and harder not only for the restaurant but for myself as well,” she said. “By the fourth day, I figured out I could put all the prep ingredients into one cambro and then dump them into my soup pot,” she told me.
In our conversations, she mentioned wanting the support of a team but expressed nervousness about managing. “I don't know exactly how to train; we're still learning as we go,” she worried. She persuaded a good friend to help her at the stall a few days a week, but the thought of working with a complete stranger, let alone managing them, was different.
I wanted to do everything on my own — but I learned, you can't.
Tiffany Iung
Even when it felt overwhelming, Tiff seemed optimistic. “People have been telling me they're so proud of me. It makes me really emotional and crazy to hear,” she said. She even had other food business owners reach out via Instagram to donate cambros and kitchenware. “My next-door neighbors are Puebla Mexican Food, and they have been great with all the helpful information I didn't even know I needed,” Tiff said. “I didn't know how to order things yet, so I ordered 2 boxes of latex gloves and went through them the first week. Puebla gave me more. It's such a fun little community.”
Read more: How to open a restaurant
One thing Tiffany worried about was money. ”I don't think about the worst-case scenario,” she told me. “I think, can I make an income doing this? I am working now without understanding how I will pay myself.”
But within the first two weeks, she had already learned so much. Business seemed to be going well. I loved being along for the ride, checking Chomps’ Instagram periodically to cheer on her little wins and partake in community input polls. Tiffany had a lot of support from Essex, which she called “a third space for the LES community.” To me, most of what she was feeling was expected and normal.
One month of Chomps
At the one-month mark, Tiff started to find her rhythm and scramble less. The soup was still selling out occasionally, but unable to make more without a bigger team, she focused on ensuring a hospitable experience for her customers with witty banter, reassurances of “more soup tomorrow!” and a warm, friendly demeanor.
Her biggest worry during opening week was being able to hire and manage people effectively. A month later, she gleefully informed me that she was about to hire her first employee.
The regularly changing, mostly vegan soup offerings range from the famous Coconut Chickpea to Split Pea, alongside her housemade cornbread.
“One thing I've learned is not to be too ambitious,” she said. “I make four soups a day, which is what I am capable of. I want them to be great, but there will always be one or two soups that are more appealing to people. I’m proud of what I’m making; if I tried to do more, it probably wouldn't be good.”
It was harder coming to terms with customer reviews. A few weeks after opening, she shared with me that a review discussing taste preference caught her off guard. “I know not everything is for everyone, but the customer could have said it in person or tried the soup before. I always give out samples,” she said. As Instagram has been prominent in her business model, Tiff took to Instagram Stories. “I wrote about how my feelings were hurt — not to ask people for good reviews.” Still, her loyal following responded to the story by taking to Google and writing a bunch of positive reviews. “It was so surprising to have people show up this way,” she said. “I still get emotional about it.”
Read more: How to navigate restaurant licenses and permits
While her fanbase was growing, Tiff was still learning how to balance the different roles that being a business owner entailed: recipe developer, prep cook, cashier, and the dreadful tasks of operations & admin.
A health inspection deducted points for egg location, reflecting her home kitchen habits. The commercial equipment was a beast in itself to learn, after many less-than-perfect cookie attempts. Her daily sales gave her a good indication of the financial outlook, but she was “putting off figuring out the cost of goods and labor costs.” Balancing quality ingredients from Essex's butcher was easy, but the realization that she had to order from distributors rather than farmers’ markets was much less romantic than she envisioned.
All things considered, Chomps was thriving. It was by no means easy, but at the one-month mark, with a supportive community behind her, Tiff was learning what she needed to know quickly.
Three months of Chomps
When I checked in at the 90-day mark, Tiff appeared exponentially more confident as a business owner. Most noticeable was her attitude shift.
“Some days, when I make subtle shifts in my approach, it changes everything,” she told me. “Sometimes, when you’re running your own business, you think, ‘I’m going to run it my way.’ But I’ve realized this business really isn’t about me. I’ve tried to become more flexible.” I felt like I was talking to a brand new person.
The administrative and financial work is still the most challenging part. As of late, Tiff still relies on daily sales and intuition more than real analytics to gauge the business’s financial health. She’s honest about it. “If you don't know all these little things, it does seem impossible,” she confided. “You have to have someone on your team who understands this stuff.”
But she is getting better at navigating regulations, adapting recipes for large-scale production, and managing inventory with her two employees. She rarely sells out at 2pm anymore, she has increased her soup par, and occasionally her employees open shop.
Tiff and team have elevated their food, too. In addition to now offering two “house” specialty soups, Chomps sells grilled cheese, focaccia, and quiche. She is even considering incorporating drinks.
Lenart & Iung, mid-laugh.
Tiff doesn’t often work alone anymore, but when she does, it takes her back to her first week — how beautiful yet challenging it was. She realized the workload was far too heavy for a single person to handle.
With more time on her hands, Tiff is starting to think bigger picture, transitioning to cold soups to-go, expanding her menu, and even planning for someone else to take over the business, eventually.
From home cook to business owner
The home cook who made a killer cherry Gâteau Basque when we were roommates now churns out four types of soup a day — sometimes five, if she’s feeling zealous — and stands with her head held high. If she had one thing to share about this journey, she told me, it was that “I wanted to do it on my own, but I learned, you can't.”
But Tiff won’t ever be truly alone. Those of us who are part of her life — a substantial number of us — are eager to cheer her on and offer our unwavering support. The majority of us are just an Instagram message away. Having had the privilege of learning from Tiff over the past three months, this experience taught me that, more than anything, with teamwork and a support system, you can fulfill your wildest dreams, even starting your own food business.
Keep up with Chomps Élysées on Instagram at @chomps.nyc. Follow Gabrielle Lenart at @gabriellebakes
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