Savoring Entrepreneurship: Chef Nikky's Adventure Building a Culinary Business
Have you ever wished for guidance and effectively growing your business and managing your finances? Or wonder what it takes to succeed as a female entrepreneur in finance? Then this is the podcast for you. Welcome to Women of Law, where generational wisdom meets ambition. I'm Ali Romo, your millennial host.
Hawley:And I'm Hawley-woods Gray, your gen x host.
Allie:Using our combined backgrounds in insurance and financial services, we will share what we've learned to give you the tools
Hawley:you need to grow your business. Join us, and together, we will help you discover practical strategies for financial leverage, business growth, and securing your future.
Hawley:Hey, wealth warriors. Are you ready to redefine wealth and master your money mindset? Welcome host, Hawley-woods Gray.
Allie:And I'm your millennial host, Ali Ramos. This episode, we're discussing the business of food and money.
Hawley:Well, let's meet our guest, chef Nikki. Nikki. Hi. Welcome. Tell
Nikky Phinyawatana:us I'm so excited to be here.
Hawley:Tell us a little about just a little bit about yourself and how you got to be here, girlfriend.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Goodness. A little bit about myself. Well, I'm chef Nikki, and I am a restaurateur owner of 20 years. We just celebrated. Recently just launched a cookbook.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So excited. Thai food and travel with chef Nikki. Easy recipes to feed the soul. And, honestly, it's always about food. And, you know, if I wanna make a business, it obviously is also about money.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So this is how we have fun around truly, honestly, my mission in life is to inspire people through food, culture, and travel, and here we are.
Hawley:And we have done that, seriously. I was in Bali earlier this year with Nikki and on one of the resorts we were well, first of all, I went to this awesome little market. I got to see her shop for fresh ingredients and taste mangosteen for the first time and had so many great experiences with you. And then I got to watch you have, like, a private slash 3 person food adventure with the chef on one of the properties we
Nikky Phinyawatana:were at. So Right. I forgot about that. Oh my god. Wasn't it so beautiful?
Nikky Phinyawatana:So beautiful. It was my first time experience, Belanese food and really getting to talk to the chef about, you know, what goes into their flavor profile, what are the things that, you know, non Bali people like to enjoy from their country. It was so inspiring. And, of course, the fresh market that we went on together, so fun.
Hawley:It was it just reminded me of, the movie Aladdin, and when they go fresh, fish. Because there's tickets everywhere. Like, you could get whatever you wanted. Just, you know, spices and fruits and vegetables and meats and Fresh coconut. Yes.
Hawley:Yes. A whole new experience. Alright. Well, we're gonna jump into some questions and talk about this food and money and, you know, I wanna I have some questions that are gonna just, you know I know you're not supposed to talk with your mouth full when you're at a business meeting, but that's about all the food etiquette I have for business meetings. So we're gonna jump right into it.
Hawley:What would you say are some of the best dishes, if I was at Asian Mint, I should order during a business lunch or dinner that could help have a successful meet meeting?
Nikky Phinyawatana:That is such a fun question. The first thing that came to my mind, you probably don't wanna eat any food that will have, like, food stick in your teeth. Right? Because it'll be the worst when you're smiling and then you have, like, I don't know, a piece of lettuce or, cilantro stuck inside. And the other person's gonna be like, but, yeah, I would have to say definitely try to pick food items that won't cause that embarrassment, and then you're gonna feel a lot more confident communicating.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Soups are are very safe. I think it doesn't also create a lot of noise if people are, like, sensitive to that, and it's very refreshing. Rice dishes, noodle dishes, those are all good. So maybe stay away from, like, some of the salads or, like, the summer rolls because sometimes, like, I will have, you know, lettuce stuck in my teeth. I'll check with my friend, hey, can you check me kind of thing.
Nikky Phinyawatana:That's awesome. But, yeah, that's that would be my go to.
Allie:A little disclaimer, I guess, before we get started is don't listen to this episode if you're hungry. Oh, good
Hawley:one. That's a good one for sure. Are you hungry? Yes.
Allie:And my favorite food is Thai food, so you're killing me.
Nikky Phinyawatana:I'm just gonna keep saying Thai food names throughout the whole thing.
Allie:So, Nikki, you were talking about Belanese food and their their profiles I wanna know about, like, Thai food because, I mean, green curry is my favorite. But what are traditional dishes? What are the flavor profiles of Thai food?
Nikky Phinyawatana:Cuisine. I love that. I actually address this a lot in our cookbook or in my cookbook. I gotta get used to that. It's a joint effort, right, with my entire team, and it's a group effort.
Nikky Phinyawatana:And, I like to categorize it into the 4 s's. So I believe that, you know, after serving this for over 20 years, people love Thai food because that has more than 1 or 2 dimensional flavor. It's just not salty, and it's just not sweet or, you know, peppery. Our 4 s's is actually they're salty. There is sweet, there's spicy, and, also, there's a sour component.
Nikky Phinyawatana:And we always play on these 4 flavor profiles. So let's go back to the green curry, your favorite, also my favorite curry. It does play on these flavor profiles, whether it's in the curry paste itself, in the ingredients that we add. For example, let's say green curry is more of a spicy note because it has a lot of, fresh green chili. It has, like, coriander seeds.
Nikky Phinyawatana:It has, oh my god, so many other things, a lot of different roots, probably galangal and ginger, garlic, for example. But then we also play on, fish sauce, adding a salty component. We balance salt with sweet. Well, we will add a little bit of sugar. It kinda brings all the flavors up together.
Nikky Phinyawatana:And then think of some of the things that might add a sour note to it. Well, not really sour, but maybe a little bit of acidity when you cook something up. Not all not all of the flavor profiles will be strong. They will kind of play and hinder on different things. So green curry will probably be more in your case, you think it's probably more spicy, maybe have a follow-up with a little salty note with a hint of sweetness.
Nikky Phinyawatana:But let's say if you're talking about papaya salad, the flavor notes there would probably be spicy, sour, salty with a hint of sweetness. So there's always this play on these flavors in our cuisine, which is exciting to me.
Hawley:That's exciting to me too. One one of the things that inspired me to say, hey, Nikki, I want you to come be on the show is, last Christmas, I bought all of your sauces for my family, and I gave some away as gifts and I kept some. And so, you know and then I watched one of your YouTube videos about, like, let's just cook with what you have in your house. Right? And so I had some shrimp, and I had some vegetables.
Hawley:I have, like, some broccoli and some bell peppers and some really beautiful, vegetables. And so I made this great thigh pat thigh with, using, you know, your recipe, basically, from watching your video and then using your sauces, and my family absolutely loved it. As a result of that, I've made it again, you know, and I'm gonna make it again and again and again. They have these tiny noodles at Trader Joe's. I mean, they're not the healthiest for you.
Hawley:The ones at Trader Joe's, you could probably get better, more healthy version if you wanted to. But they're delicious, and they worked really well in the recipe and with the sauces and everything. So, you know, I know that that was kind of your first dip into putting your business out there in a different way, and how have you been received with that? I mean, obviously, I'm a raving fan, but how have you been received with all your sauces, and what do you really love about having those types of products available to the public?
Nikky Phinyawatana:It honestly is really fun. So been in the restaurant, and we can only feed so many people. Right? Sitting and doing takeout. But I was like, how can I impact more families, more homes, and actually bring the experience of creating you know, people have this connotation that it's so hard to make Thai food?
Nikky Phinyawatana:Right? Oh, I can't go find the ingredients. It's too complicated. I don't understand. And I was like, no.
Nikky Phinyawatana:It's really it it's not that hard. Let me tell you what you can find in your local Trader Joe's or your grocery store. Here are the things you need to get, and if you don't have certain ingredients, here's some other things that you can get instead. Because I don't want you to be like, I can't get it, so I'm not gonna make it. You can make it with anything.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Like, I saw that picture of that pad thai dish you made, and I was like, wait. Did you put what did you put in there? I was like, this is very avocado. You put avocado in pad Thai, and I was like, that is so creative.
Hawley:Because you probably you said
Nikky Phinyawatana:I had some avocado now.
Hawley:I had avocado. I didn't want it to go bad. So I'm like, you know, from San Diego, we have a little avocado with everything. So I'm like, just a little bit of avocado. It was great.
Hawley:I love it. Made, like, a little, cucumber for the acidity, you know, the sour kind of side of it.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Mhmm.
Hawley:I made a little, I used one of the other sauces. I don't even remember which one. Believe. Like, a little cucumber salad to go on the side. You know?
Hawley:And so with the avocado, cucumber salad and avocado just goes really well together, so it just worked. You know?
Nikky Phinyawatana:I love it. It's just full of flavor. Right, Ali? I think what you like about Thai cuisine is just, like, there's layers and layers of flavor. It's not just like 1 or 2 dimensional, and I think it's so so comforting too and healthy and your body craves that.
Allie:Oh my gosh. Don't even talk to me. We're getting into the season where my body, like, all the time just craves typhoon. And I've recently gone gluten free, and Thai food is so easy to get gluten free dishes.
Nikky Phinyawatana:That's right. So easy. Gluten free, dairy free. We only use coconut milk and 99% of our recipes. Vegan friendly, vegetarian friendly.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Like, call all your friends. We're we're the cuisine for that.
Hawley:Absolutely. I mean, for sure, I think that the beautiful colors that come with just the vegetables, all of us can eat more of that.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Yep. For sure.
Allie:So when you were, thinking of, you know, expanding and reaching more people, what what were you thinking about strategically for business and, like, how did that get into sauces and the cookbook? Tell us a little
Nikky Phinyawatana:about that. Oh, such a good question. So the restaurant we've been doing, we have our Mint fanatics who are our customers or clients. They want what they want. Right?
Nikky Phinyawatana:You cannot take anything off the menu. You can maybe add a few things every now and then, but you cannot take and our menu is so large. Believe me. Every year, we're like, what can we cut out? And it's, like, impossible.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So creatively, I'm, like, kind of, like, fixed on this, like, box, because operationally, I can't just keep adding recipes. Right? And thus, it came the idea like, okay. I need a creative outlet. What else can I do?
Nikky Phinyawatana:What else can I provide based on what, I can pretty much do in my sleep? And it is teaching people how to make Thai food. It is celebrating the culture around the food. Thus came the birth of the sauce. And it was so exciting because not only did we do it during, COVID because everyone was cooking every single day, 5 times a day because we're all stuck at home.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So they got to try these new sauces It was, very receptive. We were able to put it in central market grocery stores, which is kind of like, Texas version of the Trader Joe's, so it got to reach more mass. And now with the cookbook, it is it's a whole different avenue that I'm learning. It's not just the restaurant. It's not just the supermarket.
Nikky Phinyawatana:It is now on Amazon. It is now in bookstores. It's like a whole another avenue that I get to reach a whole different group of people through a different medium that they love. So, creatively, it's just kinda how I grew into another, business, and it's the chef nikki.com business. It's everything about the chef Nikki lifestyle brand.
Nikky Phinyawatana:I take people on trips, culinary trips to Southeast Asia. So creatively and on the business side, like, it literally was like a whole another business that was created out of just the love of me to feed people and to serve people.
Allie:And I like I just really wanna highlight too something, and I think it maybe it's a little ingredient to your success is that, you know, you wanted to reach more people. And I heard you say, you wanted to teach people Thai food, and yet your business is of people coming into you to purchase Thai food. So some people would be like, well, then why are people gonna go to your restaurant if they know how to cook Thai food at home, but you saw a vision beyond that. And I think that's really important for a lot of different types of business to see that just because you're teaching someone how to do something that you do, it's not gonna take away from your business. So I really wanted to highlight that too of your story because I think that's really
Nikky Phinyawatana:And what was been really cool with what you said about that is even we have, like, our men's fanatics who have moved away from, like, the Dallas Fort Worth area. And now they now live in New York or they send their kids off to college, they can now send the sauce and the cookbook because they'll be like, oh, I crave my Asian mint. I'm like, here you go. You can make it in your dorm room now.
Allie:Oh, I love that. I love that.
Hawley:What I was thinking. You know, I live in Las Vegas. There's no Asian mints here even though I've been asking, Nikki to open one here. Okay. One day, maybe.
Hawley:I don't know. So I can make it here. I can get a little taste of Asia Mint. And then when I'm in Dallas, I can go get the real thing, and then that'll inspire me when I come back home to cook it for my family again. You know?
Hawley:Yep. Because, I mean So much. The sticky mango rice, of course, is, like, the best thing ever. So we're we're gonna
Nikky Phinyawatana:get a recipe for the cookbook.
Hawley:Minutes, though.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Okay. Sounds good. We're gonna go through the whole menu.
Hawley:I know.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Sally, good luck.
Hawley:We're kinda we're kinda jumping around here, but, you know, I would love for you to and we've done this before because, Nikki and I were in a mastermind together last year. And one of the, masterminds that we had out in Dallas, leader of the mastermind, e women network, Sandra Yancey, she brought in Nikki's cuisine for us. And how do you how do you structure your menus, like, for your either if you're catering something and they just say they just leave it all up to you. Right? I'm sure that's, like, probably the best situation ever.
Hawley:They're like, here's the budget. You bring what you think my people will like. Right? And you know her people, so that's easy. But what what how do you structure your menu so that, you know, you can have a little bit, but people aren't like, oh, I'm so full or, I can't talk business anymore because, you know, just over it.
Hawley:You know what I mean? So it's like you don't want people to get too full or, you know, drink too much or be too spicy because some people sometimes they get sick if it's too spicy. Right? So how do you, like, formulate your menu in a business situation where it works for everyone?
Nikky Phinyawatana:I love this question. So when we take in, like, a catering gig, so to speak, we will basically try to put ourselves in the host's shoes. We're very thoughtful, and a lot of times again, unfortunately, Thai cuisine is not like your everyday food yet, soon to be, and, you know, it's a part of everyone's rotation now, which is amazing. But it's not like, hey. If I say I'm serving a pizza or a burger, they know exactly what we're serving.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So I always, go back to ask about, okay. Number 1, we have to show thoughtfulness as a host. So I would go and ask the host, okay. Out of all the people that are coming, do you have any dietary restrictions that we have to worry about? We're being very thoughtful.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Sometimes they are and sometimes they're not. And when there's not, we can be, like, more creative, so to speak, in both ways. But we wanna be creative, but, also, everyone doesn't feel like, oh, I can only eat 2 things out of this entire spread, and they're gonna feel left out. As a host, you don't want anybody to feel left out. It would hinder any negotiation, business conversation.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Because if their soul is not fed come on. Like, we're feeding souls. Right? They're not going to want to communicate you openly. And I believe that food is like a topic of conversation that everyone can talk about.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Food is always top of mind. We think about it, honestly, 247, if not at least 3 times a day. Come on. And before that, we're thinking about what we're gonna eat, where we're gonna eat, who we're gonna eat with. Right?
Nikky Phinyawatana:It is it is a it's something that brings us all together. We're always talking about it, and then we can talk about what we like and don't like. And when it is a cuisine that is, you know, out of the realm that people normally talk about, they get to talk about that particular dish. So we'll have, like, a star dish that might be a little bit, like, not super common. It's not the pad thai.
Nikky Phinyawatana:It might be, let's say, the papaya salad or, like, our Asian noodle salad. Something that'd be like, wait. What is this? I've never had this before. It becomes the topic of conversation.
Nikky Phinyawatana:They can start talking about what you like about it, what you don't like about it. And then we have the comfort items, the pad thai, the fried rice. We'll have the green curry. There are things like, oh my and then Ally would be like, oh my god. They have my favorite curry.
Nikky Phinyawatana:And Ally can be like, oh my god. They have the pad thai. I made this pad thai at home with avocado. And it could be a car like, happy, joyful conversations. Right?
Nikky Phinyawatana:Like, I sometimes, I will go in and research on their social media to see what kind of food or flavor profiles they're talking about before I even I mean, this is, like, secret. Right? Because I wanna know what is it in their daily life that they like to enjoy. Are they posting about spicy margaritas? Oh, this person really likes spice so much.
Nikky Phinyawatana:They're even gonna be drinking it. So I will really, like, look into what are their preference. Where do they go? It's a persona that we're we're trying to feed. And then this way, not only are we representing the host in the best light possible, everyone comes in.
Nikky Phinyawatana:They feel special. They feel taken care of, and it just makes a well a well oiled event for everyone. Right? I I see you guys, like, laughing.
Hawley:No. This is great tips because think about what's coming up. Right? Holiday season. That's right.
Hawley:Your Christmas or your holiday party for your office or, you know, maybe you're gonna maybe have a small office and you're just gonna have them over to your home. Like, why not think outside the box and do something like this? Or, like, a great Christmas present. This is what I bought some of those cookbooks for that I bought. You know?
Hawley:Like, some great Christmas presents because everybody like, my daughter-in-law, she is Hispanic, and she wants, cookbooks all the time from different types of food so she can expand outside of just, you know, her frijoles and her, you know, other things that I mean, she's an amazing cook. However, she's very much, wanting to, you know, explore a little bit more. So, you know, those are the kind of people that you can think of that would love the sauces and the cookbooks and all that kind of stuff, and then they can put together something wonderful if they wanna cook for themselves. You know? But, I mean, it's always easier, especially if you're in the Dallas area, to call Asian mint.
Hawley:I had I had some colleagues come in, and now they're regulars at your restaurant, the one that's by National Life Group.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Yes. Thank you.
Hawley:It's an accident. You guys are right now. Yes. Yep.
Nikky Phinyawatana:That's awesome.
Allie:Holly Holly, I was totally thinking about that too. I was like, with all of the holidays coming up, I was thinking of, like, we're we're going to the mountains for our Christmas. And, like, I asked my mother-in-law, they're Middle Eastern. And so I was like, can you please make dolma? And then I thought about, okay, she's gotta bring the ingredients.
Allie:Maybe we'll make it here, but then drive it up. And, that was my Christmas present, like, wish was I wanna learn how to make it. And so we'll be learning how to make it together. And so it's really cool that, you know, food can really bring us together in different ways. How I mean, we're talking about the holidays.
Allie:How can a host whether it's for a family or for a business? How can they strategically design menus to, like, impress people? Are there more dishes that are conducive? We we kind of talked about it a little bit about getting things in your teeth. But are there more dishes that are more conducive to business discussions or relaxation?
Allie:I mean, you talked about the comfort food of, like, pad thai, and green curry, but, do you work with other kinds of foods Yes. Or do you do you just work with Thai food and then kind of go from there?
Nikky Phinyawatana:I I can work with all kind of foods, but I'm just gonna stay on topic because when you said, is there a food that is conducive to, like, make people, like, relax and enjoy? So, Thai food, again, we use a lot of different herbs. And we have 3 or 4 items in the cookbook and in our restaurant that has Thai basil. Thai basil is, like, super relaxing, and it's so fun because I have so many stories with this. Have you ever had pat kimau?
Nikky Phinyawatana:It's a stir fry noodle dish with basil. It's basil, garlic, and chili. And it's one of those dishes that has this, like, euphoric, like, it gives you, like, this wash of calmness when you enjoy it. So we have people come in. They'll look so tense into the restaurant, like, stressed out to the max.
Nikky Phinyawatana:And they would come in. They would order padkemaw or drunken noodles or this basil dish, and we can do it in the rice form, noodle form, over some fried fish. And after they take a few bites, their whole body, like, relaxes. Their eyebrows start to, like, you know, come apart and, like, their face muscles starts to relax. It's one of those, like, not like medicinal herbs, anything like that, but it's just it's those things that really just calms your nervous system down.
Nikky Phinyawatana:It is pretty amazing. So I would highly recommend any dish that has Thai basil in it for to serve at a holiday party if you feel like you have family members who are very tense. You know, let's calm them down with, like, some basil fried rice, a basil stir fry. Put some basil in your salad if it's something you're already making or maybe in your dolmas. I mean, like, you can, you know, Asianize it up, throw a little tie it tie it up a little bit and put some basil in it.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Because I love dolmas. When you were saying it, like, I could taste it. I I wanna make it too. It's so fun.
Allie:Alright. I'll teach you how to make it, and then you can teach me some of your dishes.
Hawley:I would love to. And I
Nikky Phinyawatana:I love that you're, you're incorporating cooking together. Right? Who are you gonna cook that with again?
Allie:My mother-in-law.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Your your mother-in-law. See, it's such a bonding experience. And even in, my cookbook and whenever I do cooking experiences, I always love to have this summer roll rolling spread. And I tell people all the time, like, you can do this as a party host or at a as a, you know, next holiday host is to have a spread where people would just come in. They can roll their own summer rolls.
Nikky Phinyawatana:You'll have, like, some chopped lettuce, carrots. You know, you have some fruit, avocado, some noodles, and then you'll be able to just roll this in the rice paper, dip it in, the the peanut sauce. And then everyone is coming together and, like, making their own food. They bond even more when they do something easy and they can accomplish it, and it's super yummy.
Allie:I love that idea. We were talking about, you know, doing activities for the holidays instead of doing presents together and, you know, cooking. Cooking is totally one of those things. I love it.
Hawley:My my family situation is kind of like, it's kinda like running a small business. You know? Everybody has their job. You know, stick to it. So every so the recipes turn out
Nikky Phinyawatana:the way that they're supposed to. So it's not the drinking job.
Hawley:Yeah. I mean, we have the wine pouring job. That's for sure. That's the person who goes around to make sure we have enough wine so we can handle the stress of the holidays. No.
Hawley:Just kidding.
Nikky Phinyawatana:That's right.
Hawley:Stop kidding. Alright. I wanna jump back into one more business question, and then we're gonna talk about some fun dessert stuff, and then we'll go through our lightning round. We could talk food all day long, especially Thai food. I know.
Hawley:My husband and I went to Thailand for honeymoon. So you've been at this for a long time. Right? 20 years now, you've been celebrating your anniversary recently, so congratulations. What is some advice you would give a new chef or a new restauranteur that is just getting started and that is just, you know, really searching for, you know, some advice on where to go first, what to do first, and how not to give up because I know that it's a tough business.
Hawley:It can be. Right?
Nikky Phinyawatana:Mhmm. Such a great question. Yes. So turning your passion, right, into a business, it can all it can either hurt you and, like, take you away from that passion forever or, make you fall in love with it, you know, over and over again every single day. So kind of remember, like, why you wanted to open the restaurant in the first place.
Nikky Phinyawatana:My story is a little bit different. Like, I knew that I always love to serve and I love to feed, and it was kind of on a dare because somebody said, Nikki, whatever you do, don't open a restaurant because it's the hardest thing to do. And then I'm like, hello, light bulb. We're gonna start there and work ourself backwards. 20 years later, we're still doing it.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So that's one way to go about opening a restaurant. But, honestly, what I found for sustainability in in running a restaurant where and I also believe that this goes for any business. If you have, definitely have your set values Because like any business, the hardest part about running any business is about working with your team and your employees and, you know, making sure that everyone is always staying in alignment and are focused on the same goals and mission. So having your values, you hire and fire by your values, you train by your values, and we talk about this every single time that we get together as a as an organization. And, you have to live them, and you have to love your people.
Nikky Phinyawatana:I don't know. It is it is hospitality at the end of the day, restaurateuring, and it is all about serving. It's not just about the food. It's the food. It's the value.
Nikky Phinyawatana:It's the atmosphere. It's everything that you're creating as a whole for somebody, so you have to be very thoughtful in all of these, areas. It is very important because I think most people who want to open a restaurant are either maybe a chef, inspiring chef, cooks, home cooks. Right? Or the you know, you have friends who said, you make the best brisket.
Nikky Phinyawatana:You should open a brisket shop. And that's your passion. It doesn't mean or even in my case, I am not good at financials. I don't love financials. I can do them.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So make sure you have an a team. You have, you know, your attorneys. You have your, accounting, CPAs. You have your financial advisors, all the things. You have your marketing person, if that's not you.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Fortunately, that's me. Like, now what I do in my business, I I went from, you know, cleaning the toilets all the way up to now. Like, I get to do biz dev, which is, you know, finding new locations, making connections, networking, doing the marketing, being the face, creating a lot of new things. But now I have hired people to do all the things that I'm not the best at, or maybe I don't love doing, and I make sure that they have all the systems and processes, for them to be able to do the best work that they can to be able to support the entire business. So it's always about the people putting the teams together, systems and processes, and sticking to your value and having the same mission and goal at the end of the day to have a successful business.
Hawley:Golden. Golden nuggets right there. That's just so good. Well, going from having all the systems to the sweet side of business, how can a well chosen dessert, you know, like a creme brulee, or a mango sticky rice enhance a business meal? Like, what's the psychology behind choosing the desserts that go on your menu?
Nikky Phinyawatana:I love this question. This was not in the question list.
Hawley:I added it late.
Nikky Phinyawatana:So I I think ending with dessert in any business meeting is really important. I was thinking about this too because number 1, I noticed a lot of people come in and be like, I have 1 hour. I'm gonna come in, come out, and leave. How does the person that you're meeting in that business meeting feel? Like, am I only important for you for just 1 hour?
Nikky Phinyawatana:You know? What if the conversation goes extremely well and you wanna spend more time? To me, if I was a host and and and having, like, a business meeting, I wanna make sure that I have enough time. And even if they don't and they're in a rush, but, hey, I'm gonna create time where I'm gonna have either a cup of cup, a cup of coffee, or tea and espresso with a dessert to show that, hey, you are important enough for me to spend time, not just through my appetizer and entree. You are important enough to hang out with me through dessert.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Right? So we gotta get to the 3rd course. And when you're deciding what type of dessert, depending on what kind of drink you're gonna have, I think warm drinks is very warming. It's relaxing. You have had a meal.
Nikky Phinyawatana:You're wanting to end end that perfect meal. A lot of people will have, like, an aperity for, like, a dessert wine or, like, you know, a cognac, which is also, again, very relaxing to your system. I'm more of a hot tea, hot coffee kinda gal, and I would want a dessert that pairs well. Like, a jasmine creme brulee that we serve in our restaurant would you're, like, going, whoo. You know, that would go really well with a cup of, like, a cappuccino, for example.
Nikky Phinyawatana:You know, you got the 2 yin and yang's peeling. And then, like, we have a chocolate flourless cake that's gluten free that we serve. And, again, that would go really well with I I'm just I think I need a cup of coffee right now, so I'm thinking about coffee. Or, like, with hot like, hot tea. Okay.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Let's think about maybe a hot tea. Right now, we're serving a spiced Thai tea latte.
Hawley:Mhmm.
Nikky Phinyawatana:And that would go amazing with, like, our sticky rice and, like, some coconut ice cream. Then we have the hot, cold thing. I love texture. I love playing on temperature, flavor. So those are the things that kinda go through my mind when I'm deciding what to order in pair.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Would you ever thought about those?
Hawley:Yeah. Well, I mean, everything you mentioned, maybe I'm getting hungry too. Maybe I need some more spiced tea because it all sounds really good. I just think that it's really imp what you mentioned about the time, like, it's something, as a business owner, I think about and I don't think about. Especially since we have all these Zoom meetings and these virtual meetings and stuff like that, and they're like, I have 15 minutes.
Hawley:I have 30 minutes. But when you're going out to lunch or you're having a dinner, you're hosting people at your house, there's really not a start and an end time. You know? There's a start time, of course. You know?
Hawley:And then depending on the culture of the person or whatever, some people will stay longer, some people don't. You know? So I think I think to really make sure that people know that their time is valuable and that they chose to spend it with you, and that I'm here I'm here for you. Even if that's for dessert and coffee, I I'm here for it all, and I want them to be too. So, you know, there's some ways I would say, like, being in business that you might be able to take that hour and make it feel longer by possibly asking the person you know, you could get there a little early.
Hawley:You could maybe preorder, so when they sit down, the food comes out, it's already hot. You know? You have a little more time to talk over after you finish eating. You have a little more time to talk over, have your dessert and coffee. I would think that these are just some ways maybe even take care of the bill prior to, you know, you know, so you don't have to worry about that.
Hawley:I mean, just some things that I'm thinking about, like, being a business person and letting that person feel important without them having to really, like, reach for a bill. Right? Like, if it's me inviting like, say I'm inviting you, Nikki. I'm gonna I'm gonna help you with some life insurance or something. Right?
Hawley:We go out to to lunch. We talk about everything, and then you don't even know that that, like, you're free to go. You know? Like, you don't even know that I already took care of the bill, but you're free to go because you're now my client. I'm gonna make sure I'm taking care of you.
Hawley:You know? Well, you are my client anyway. However, you know, these are the things that I that I just think about whenever I'm thinking about food and money and how to make the most out of your business meetings in a restaurant. You pair it with great food like we've talked about, pair it with great conversation, and then you take the stress of who's gonna pay out of the way because you already have taken care of that. You know?
Nikky Phinyawatana:I love that. That is key.
Allie:Well, I have learned a lot about how to run a business meeting with food. So thank you, ladies.
Hawley:So what do you think about? I must think about food all the time because I think about running business meetings at Asian Mint every chance I get. I love it.
Allie:Make sure I need to go into
Hawley:too much.
Allie:I need to go to Asian mint to just have all of these dessert pairings now with, like because I'm a coffee and tea person, so don't even make me decide. And and oh my gosh. What was it? A Jasmine
Nikky Phinyawatana:Jasmine creme brulee.
Allie:Brulee. Oh, it is I'm like I
Hawley:was wondering how that would ship. Would that ship well to my house?
Nikky Phinyawatana:No. It would not ship
Hawley:like, freeze it and ship it to me overnight, and it would be okay? Probably not.
Nikky Phinyawatana:I probably could, but let's just ship me. Ship me, and I will go and make
Hawley:it for you. Or just ship you. You can come cook and Ellie can come in too. That'd be awesome. Yeah.
Hawley:Okay. So let's so tell all of our listeners all of your deets, how to get in touch with you, what's hot and exciting, how to find you on Amazon. Give them. Go. Go, girl.
Nikky Phinyawatana:I love it. So, yes, please stay connected with me. I would love to share more insights with you. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok at chef nikky official. It's n I k k y.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Everything is also on my website, which is chef nikky.com. You can get my cookbook, which I would love just doing that search bar, Chef Nikki. I will pop right up. I am the only one on Amazon right now. And, please purchase my cookbook and leave a 5 star review for small businesses like us.
Nikky Phinyawatana:That makes the biggest difference, and send it to all your friends. You know, we're on Prime. You can get it next day. Also, for any tips and videos on how to make dishes, where to travel in Thailand, I have extensive, video episodes on my YouTube channel at chef Nikki, and I would love to stay connected with all of you. I have a lot of fun through food, culture, and travel, and we just talk food all day long, which what we can do here.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Right? So thank you, ladies, so much for having me.
Allie:Thank you so much.
Hawley:Yeah. That's great. Thank you so much. Our we're gonna have so many more great episodes like this, so make sure you keep tune tuning in to meet more of our fabulous friends and business associates. I will see you soon, Nikki.
Hawley:I will be there in December, so I'm coming for sure to Asia.
Nikky Phinyawatana:Thank you.
Allie:Thank you for joining us on this week's episode.
Hawley:We'd love to hear from you, so make
Hawley:sure to follow and tag us on Facebook and Instagram
Allie:at Women of Wealth podcast. Your support means the world to us. Until next time, remember, your financial future is in your hands.
Hawley:Stay informed, stay inspired, and embrace your will. See you on the next episode.
