Two friends who lost their jobs in Toronto realize dream of opening bakery in NYC

Despite losing their steady 9-5 jobs during the pandemic, two friends from Toronto are gearing up to open the fourth location of their Vietnamese bakery, and this time, it’s in The Big Apple. 

LA LA Bakeshop was founded by partners Brian Tran and Harry Pham, who opened up their first downtown location in the summer of 2021 with the help of their other friend, Michelle Pham. 

The bakery uses nostalgic Southeast Asian ingredients to create modern interpretations of traditional Vietnamese desserts, which are a touch less sweet and balanced with a hint of salt. 

On the menu, you’ll find a variety of cakes in unique flavours, including durian, pandan sticky rice, matcha, taro, and Vietnamese coffee, as well as roll cakes, lava buns, cheese loaves, classic flan cakes, and purple rice yogurt. 

Building up their customer base throughout the GTA, the team has now taken their love for sweets across the border, where they’re gearing up to open their first American location in New York City’s East Village. 

“At the outset of this thing, as a Torontonian, through and through, I always want to represent the city, and I’m just so happy that we’re in a position with LA LA Bakeshop to proudly say in the capital of the world. ‘Hey, we’re from Toronto,’ so it’s been exciting,” Tran told blogTO. 

The New York location wasn’t always part of the master plan, according to Tran, who says that the expansion happened by coincidence. During the early days of the business, a follower who was based in New York reached out to the partners to express their admiration for the bakery. 

Continuing to chat, the follower — and now New York partner for the bakeshop — Tung Pham, realized that he was childhood friends with Michelle. 

“They were long-lost friends at elementary school, and Tung happened to be a big New York foodie, and really immersed in the restaurant scene there, especially in the Vietnamese food scene,” Tran explained. 

“He was actually interested in opening a Vietnamese food and beverage place himself, so it was just this crazy coincidence that the universe was kind of pulling us together.” 

The team then invited Tung to Toronto to visit the bakeries, and following his trip, decided to bring him on board and open a store in New York. Tran says they chose a space in the East Village since it’s filled with young adults and also close to the New York University (NYU) campus. 

“One of my personal missions with the LA LA Bakeshop brand is to have a well-known bakery that Torontonians can be proud of. It is, for me, so important that people know that we started in Toronto,” Tran said. 

“Toronto has so few international exports and we really are trying to fight against the tall poppy syndrome that a lot of businesses sometimes feel is culturally there as part of the Canadian fabric. We’re not trying to be boastful of our achievements. I think we’re actually quite humbled by our experience so far in New York.” 

Since the bakery’s soft launch in New York, Tran says the customer response has been “mind-blowing” and amazing. 

“Harry and I had been steadily cultivating our customer base for a year before we opened up our brick-and-mortar. We had that base, that support from the Vietnamese community, that really helped us in the beginning, but New York is completely level playing field,” he explained. 

“We’re starting from zero, where we’re opening in one of the most competitive cities in the world to open up basically any food business. So we’re incredibly lucky that we have Tung as a local to put us on the right path.”

The bakery’s New York store, located at 73 2nd Ave., offers the same products their fans have grown to love here in the GTA. The New York location will officially have its grand opening on the weekend of Nov. 22.

LA LA Bakeshop has multiple locations around the GTA, including ones on Bloor Street West, in Scarborough, and Mississauga. The team is also gearing up to open its biggest location yet in Waterloo, which will officially welcome customers sometime in December. 

“Right now, we’re just looking forward to growing our new babies in New York and Waterloo,” Tran told blogTO. “What the future holds, we don’t know yet. As far as we’re concerned, the sky’s the limit.”