2024 AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund Winners

Grubhub and National ACE announce three finalists who were awarded $25,000 grants each live on-stage at the #AAPISTRONG Annual Conference.


With the industry facing ongoing economic challenges, this funding will allow AAPI restaurateurs to take their business to the next level through development ideas such as infrastructure improvements, e-commerce and technology, employee benefits, and operations streamlining. Ultimately, this will help AAPI entrepreneurs to scale their businesses, secure their futures, and also give back to the life of their neighborhoods by fostering safe and enjoyable places to gather.

Congratulations to our Grand Prize Winners

Pho Loan

Loan Nguyen

Loan Nguyen is an immigrant from Vietnam who grew up in Bac Lieu. Due to her family's financial struggles, she began working at the young age of 10, selling street food like banh cuon. Despite having limited education, Loan was determined to realize her dream of moving to the United States, which she accomplished in 1995. In her early years in America, she worked at nail salons before deciding to transition into the restaurant industry.

Loan and her husband opened Pho Loan, a restaurant that has been serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine for over a decade. Their menu features popular dishes such as the Pho Loan Special pho, broken rice, dried vermicelli noodles, and spring rolls. Although the business faced challenges due to ongoing construction at the CTA red line starting in 2019 and the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, Pho Loan remains resilient and continues to offer its beloved Vietnamese dishes to the community.