When you know what you are passionate about, the right business opportunity tends to find you.

“I always wanted to be a business owner,” Trang Nguyen says. “I just needed to find my niche because I had so many ideas and so many dreams. I also have a passion for working with children as I used to be a nanny in the past.” 

Now a mother of two—daughter Mackenzie is 2.5 years old and son Blake is 1.5 years old—Trang knows for sure that she would love to create something fun and meaningful not only for her own children but also for other kids in her community. Being in the financial industry for 7 years, Trang has been always hesitant to take a break and give anything else a try. The main question for her was, ‘How can I build anything from scratch?’.”

Then one day while looking on Facebook, Trang saw an ad for the Sticky Fingers Cooking® franchise opportunity. 

“It just popped up in my Facebook feed and it was so colorful!” she says. “Because it was about kids, I was like, let me see if this is real and one thing led to another.”

Most importantly, the question now has an answer. She says: “With Sticky Fingers Cooking®, I will have a whole team to support me, the entire collection of recipes that I am sure kids and their parents will love, all I need to do is be brave and go with it.”

Erin Fletter, founder and CEO of Sticky Fingers Cooking, knows that Trang has what it takes to thrive as a business owner. “Trang’s love of children and her strong work ethic are the perfect combination for her to be a successful Sticky Fingers Cooking franchise owner,” Erin says. “We are very much looking forward to this partnership with Trang!”

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Feeding a Need in Virginia

Although the area where Trang and her family live is in what she describes as a “very young area” she was not finding many cooking options at the local schools.

“There are many after school programs here, but none of them are cooking,” Trang explains. “I’ve been living here for about 10 years and everything with children is very popular because there are so many school age children in the area.”

Trang is originally from Vietnam, and then got a scholarship to attend high school in London, England. Upon her graduation from college, she then joined her family in the Northern Virginia area and has been living there ever since she permanently moved to the U.S. in 2013.

“We are always looking for new activities for our children, and so are others here,” Trang says. “It makes sense to bring Sticky Fingers Cooking® to our community. I am glad that I found the company and now have the opportunity to become a Sticky Fingers Cooking franchise owner.”

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Nutrition Matters

As a Mom to two young kids, nutrition is on Trang’s mind a lot. 

“My daughter is very interested in cooking,” Trang, who lives in Annandale, Virginia, says. “She wants to help me all the time in the kitchen when I cook dinner. She gets me butter from the fridge and things from the pantry. I try to put things on lower shelves now since I know she loves doing that.”

Little Mackenzie is ready to join the business with her mom! “She is very cautious but she loves trying new foods,” she says. “She knows we are doing a cooking business and is asking, ‘Do we get to do more cooking now?’”

Trang says that what influences her family’s food choices is being healthy, not so much specific dishes from Vietnam, the United Kingdom, or the U.S. “I think the most important thing when it comes down to parents in general is that we just want our kids to eat healthy,” she says. 

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A Perfect Mix

After Trang first spoke with Sticky Fingers Cooking® and found it to be “legit,” she flew to Denver to meet the team and see if this opportunity was the right fit for her. 

“I love how dedicated they are,” Trang says of the company’s executive team that she met with to discuss franchising. “I love that I can bring cooking to children in my community.”

Trang is someone who knows her own values so when it came time to meet with the Sticky Fingers Cooking® team, she was aware of what qualities she wanted to see. “I like honesty in everything, that is my principle,” Trang says. “When I talk to people at Sticky Fingers Cooking®, they are very transparent and very honest with me about what they do and how they do it and how they built the business from scratch.”

Trang found trust in them.

She adds, “I’ll be working with children and need to be very careful, so honesty played an important part in everything and they gained my trust. I knew I could do business with them.”

Trang is honest about her own ambition too. “I’m a very competitive person so I want to succeed and I would love for the kids in my community to learn cooking and how important it is to eat healthy from a young age,” she says. “Even though I want to be a successful business owner, making big numbers, what I want the most is to make a positive impact on the children and even their parents because that’s what really makes this journey meaningful and ever-lasting.”

She plans to open her business in early 2024, and is already talking about expansion! “I truly believe that I could show everyone here how fun and simple quality cooking can be and I know we can grow with love,” she says.

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Trang’s favorite Sticky Fingers Cooking recipe (so far): Super Simple Sweet Potato Frosting from the Sticky Fingers Cooking “Basic Training Baking Boot Camp” cookbook. 

Mackenzie’s favorite recipe: Blank Canvas Pancakes, from the same cookbook. 

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