When Trang Nguyen decided to invest in a Sticky Fingers Cooking franchise, she was curious and excited about making this change for herself and her family, but she wasn’t sure what to expect. 

“I do not know how I did it,” she says today as she reflects on her success as the franchise owner of Sticky Fingers Cooking® in Northern Virginia (NoVa). 

Trang oversaw a 1,350% increase in the number of venues served in her first 18 months in business and went from $10,000 in revenue to over $350,000. 

“In spring 2024, I had four schools that responded to my nice emails,” she says. “By the end of 2025, we had classes in 58 schools.”

What the numbers don’t show is how Trang began to experience more flexibility in her day-to-day life as a result of her growing business. 

“Now I have more freedom because I’m working for my dream, not someone else’s,” she explains. “I have more time to travel and be with my kids.”

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Sticky Fingers Cooking® Franchise Expansion

When she looked at the numbers and said thank you over and over to happy parents whose children had enjoyed a cooking class or camp, she knew now was the time to purchase an additional Sticky Fingers Cooking® territory and expand.

“I think it was the right time to expand based on our growth and how popular we are in the area,” she says. “It was a deeply personal decision for me, but I’m ready for this.”

Trang is now the franchise owner of Sticky Fingers Cooking® in Washington, D.C. too! 

“I was very conservative and skeptical, and a part of me didn’t trust myself so much,” she laughs. “Then I had a lightbulb moment in looking at the numbers and how much we grew and I got the confidence to expand.”

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Building the Right Team as Franchise Business Owner

Part of Trang’s new freedom comes from following the systems created by Sticky Fingers Cooking® and then hiring to build out her team and getting them trained using these systems. 

“We have three people on the management team and twenty-one chef instructors,” she explains. “I predict we will add one more person on the management side, and double the number of chef instructors.”

She’s realistic about how important hiring the right people is for her success: “My business wouldn’t be alive without them!”

And she adds: “I put the right people in the right place, so it’s like I’m the magic chef! When you cook something, you have to put in the right ingredients, and this is what I’m doing with hiring people.”

If Trang’s story has inspired you, contact us today to see about your dreams of franchise ownership.