AANHPI & APIDA Heritage Month

May 23

May is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Desi Heritage Month. Celebrating and honoring the beautiful diaspora, I will be highlighting wonderful local creatives and artisans. Learning and connecting can help support and uplift our community.

Meet Tom Nguyen. He is owner of Mochi Joy with his lovely partner Rachel. This dynamic duo makes mochi donuts. Mochi Joy opened in 2022. It has expanded to malasada, mochi sandos, refreshing drinks, and Hawaiian snack mix. Tom finds inspiration in food, business, and tech. Reading reviews, comments, and feedback motivates him to do better.

Asian flavor combinations influence the flavors for their mochi donuts. When their guests buy mochi donuts for special events like birthdays, holidays, or to make someone happy, this brings them lots of joy! Mochi Joy has been a source of joy in the Indy food world! Mochi Joy also shares and supports local businesses and artists. They have done many collaborations as well as creating markets to promote local artisans.

*Mochi donuts flavor from top to bottom: Pandan Latte, Ube, Lychee Raspberry, Yuzu Strawberry, Dragonfruit Raspberry, Calpico White Peach.*

Tom’s advice for aspiring food entrepreneur: “Find a mentor or other restaurant owners that can share their experience with you and help you start.”

Tom’s Vietnamese heritage is important to him. He honors traditions like Lunar New Year’s and family gatherings at death anniversaries. He emphasizes the significance of the food! He loves making any traditional Vietnamese dishes taught by his mom. Tom’s favorite food is steamed crab in any form!

Right now, you can pre-order from their “We’re going nuts!” six-pack mochi donuts with nut toppings until Friday 5/24 at 4pm or until sold out at five different locations! For more info, click here.

Look for future pop-ups in places like: Commissary Coffee, Tomorrow Bookstore, Indie Coffee Roasters, Helm Coffee, Carmel Pride, Gold Leaf, Bluemind, and BabyGot Brunch.