Creating Sao Noi, a Venture to Remember
By Jacob Ashley
Portland State University (PSU) alums and sisters Lisa and Maly Douangphoumy have built a thriving business using traditional Lao and Thai family recipes passed down through generations. Their company, Sao Noi, literally translating to “little girl” in Laotian, was inspired by their mother, Marnie, who began making sauces from her restaurant in Hood River eight years ago. Her family called her Sao Noi because she is the youngest of eight siblings.
Sao Noi’s recipes come from a long line of talented cooks within Lisa and Maly’s family. Their father worked as a chef in multiple restaurants and a country club, picking up methodologies from various Southeast and East Asian cultures through those experiences. Though he learned so much through work, he inherited his love of cooking from his mother (Lisa and Maly’s grandmother), who passed away before writing down her recipes. These stories from their father helped inspire the sisters not only to create Sao Noi but also to write a recipe book so that others could submit and, in a sense, immortalize their own family’s expression through Southeast Asian cuisine.
Lisa, a 2014 graduate in international and global studies, and Maly, a 2017 graduate in political science and business administration, made the most of their time at PSU, networking and learning to pitch their ideas to investors. Colin Gallison, a managerial accounting and entrepreneurship instructor at The School of Business (SB), was integral to their initial success. Not only did he dedicate extra time to coach and mentor Lisa and Maly through their initial pitch iterations, but he also helped them with marketing and sales, believing in them and their model so much that he became an initial investor, even introducing the sisters to his vast network. Colin, having previously worked on the corporate side of New Seasons, had the expertise and relationships to connect them with John Boyle, a food buyer from Market of Choice and another vital part of the beginning of Sao Noi’s success.
In 2013, their father passed away, leaving the care of the family business in the hands of the sisters and their mother. Lisa says, “We were still trying to balance our education at PSU with the restaurant, commuting between Portland and Hood River.” She continues, “It was difficult, but we couldn’t handle it all when our dad passed. It’s like, when you have a restaurant, you’re married to it, and we were looking for a way out.” Knowing their education was a stepping stone to future success, they persevered to graduation, but during that time, they realized their need to transition from the restaurant. They then found an employment opportunity at Health Wright Products, where Scott Steinford, the CEO at the time, believed so intensely in the sisters and Sao Noi he purchased enough of their products for all 210 Health Wright employees.
Their mother’s phở was one of their top-selling dishes, making chili oils to complement it. One day, an employee suggested bottling and selling the oils as their own line of products. Thus, Sao Noi was inspired, allowing Lisa and Maly to transition from the restaurant while still acting as caretakers of the family legacy. However, creating a product their customers loved wasn’t the end of the story. “In the beginning, it was definitely challenging. We had no idea how to start a business.” Lisa continues, “We originally started with very fresh ingredients, bottling them in small mason jars and selling them from our restaurant.” Soon after, they got a visit from the health inspector, giving them a long list of tasks on safely creating a product for market, including names of individuals who could help them learn the industry.
Lisa and Maly took a day off to take a bottling class, where they networked their way to Biogen Lab Developments in Corbett, to test their products for safety. “During the middle of the day, when the restaurant was closed between two and five to prep,” Lisa says, “that was the only opportunity we had to get all of this done. And, at first, we had no idea about pH testing, water activity, and all that kind of stuff.” Biogen then referred the sisters to Sarah Masoni at the Food Innovation Center in Portland, where, after several iterations, Sao Noi had an approved product for market.
The next challenge was getting their product into stores. “We bottle everything by hand.” Lisa mentions, “So, literally, every single bottle you buy is a complete and utter labor of love. And at first, every store we tried sent us to their corporate, wanting us to guarantee incredible amounts of our sauce. With our full-time jobs, this just wasn’t realistic for us.”
Eventually, Sao Noi found their first account, a chain of Thriftway stores in and around White Salmon, Washington. “What we learned from this was that you have to start off with baby steps. Like, you can’t just jump at the giants first. It’s all a process, and it takes time,” Lisa explained. “We were so close to just throwing in the towel. We just couldn’t imagine keeping up with all of this.”
The challenges didn’t stop there, as they continued releasing new products, like beef jerky, which was an idea that arose from their food broker. Maly says, “He came to visit us one day from California, saying that he woke up in the middle of the night from a dream that we should make Sao Noi beef jerky!” A food broker is an independent sales agent who helps food manufacturers and producers sell their products to retailers and distributors. Lisa and Maly met their broker at an event. They bonded over their products, and he offered to represent them at a small price reserved for small businesses he believes in. In fact, he hasn’t charged them at all to this day.
Through failure and success, Lisa and Maly have built a thriving business, learning the industry as they’ve progressed. With help from the community, a lot of networking, and incredible tenacity, their products embody the care and attention of generations of their family. Lisa concludes, “Just knowing our recipes are reaching everyone’s dinner tables. It just feels special.”
For more on Sao Noi and its products, click HERE.
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