“My mom, she’s 72,” Tran said. “She’s run businesses since she came to America. I have experience in restaurants. Given the growing population in Frisco, the growing diversity, there’s really not much Vietnamese food [here].”
Saigon Box offers Vietnamese staples like the banh mi sandwich, spring rolls and pho, the noodle soup with choice of protein and a bit of heat thanks to jalapenos and hot sauce. Saigon Box also has gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options.
In 1975, Tong emigrated from Vietnam to New Orleans. Tran was born and grew up in the Big Easy before the mother and daughter came to the Dallas area about 10 years ago. The name Saigon Box honors her mother’s birthplace.
“Saigon is a city in Vietnam. In ‘75 it changed to Ho Chi Minh [City], but we remember it as Saigon,” Tran said. “We knew we wanted to do a fast-casual—not necessarily fast because you don’t want to rush good food—[but] an approachable setting where customers order, and everything is placed in a box. It worked really well for the pandemic because we had to box everything up.”
Thus far, Saigon Box has relied on word of mouth to grow, a strategy which the team said has paid off.
“We always want to make sure that our food is perfected and that we have the manpower to produce perfect food,” Tran said. “Eventually, we may want to reach the masses, but we’re a small mom-and-daughter team, so organic word of mouth is, for us, best right now.”
Saigon Box Vietnamese Kitchen
6363 Dallas Parkway, Ste. 106, Frisco
214-494-2035
www.saigon-box.com
