Episode 56: Vivian Kong Doctora
Unknown Speaker 0:00
Music.
Rachel Kobus 0:09
Welcome to Redbird Buzz. I'm Rachel Kobus from alumni engagement. When people hear the name Vivian Kong Doctora in the Bloomington Normal community, they think of a woman who is a risk taker, a go getter, a connector and one amazing bao bun chef. The 1996 Business Administration graduate left a 21 year career in insurance to try her hand at entrepreneurship. Now she is the owner and chef of Bao Destination, partner of Kobe revolving sushi bar, real estate agent, cooking class instructor and children's book author.
So with this long list of success, we are excited to learn how it all came to be today, and we welcome Vivian to today's episode. And I want to ask, what's the word Redbird? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Vivian Kong Doctora 1:00
Um, what's the word is, I'm a little under the weather, so I have my sexy voice on today, but that was a great intro. I really appreciate you. Want to say thank you for having me on today. So my name is Vivian Kong Doctora, I'm a 96 grad of ISU College of Business Go Redbirds. So as you said, I have 21 amazing year with one of the local insurance company in town. It's been great. We move around. And then a few years ago, I decided to step out of my corporate career and started my own business. So I'm now a proud owner of Bao Destination, a co owner of Beyond Social, and the recent project, co owner of Kobe revolving sushi bar.
Rachel Kobus 1:50
And they're all delicious and amazing. And I that so
Vivian Kong Doctora 1:55
yay.
Rachel Kobus 1:57
So Vivan, I wanted to start off. I want to let our listeners know that you also have a story in the spring edition 2025, of our magazine. So this is kind of an extension for those that maybe read that article, and for those that didn't read the magazine article learning more about you. So in the story, you talk about the power of food to connect people. So can you talk a little bit more about what you mean by that?
Vivian Kong Doctora 2:22
Yeah absolutely, I truly believe that statement. We all have to eat, right? Yes, we have adventurous eater. We have people who are probably a little bit more picky eater. But either way, food kind of opened up a lot of conversations. It tells a story behind the person, more than just the food in itself. Just by sharing food, we start to ask about, yeah, what kind of food it is, what ingredient it is, Did your grandma pass on that recipe? Or did you or it's also tell a little bit about where the person come from, right? It could be something that I grew up eating, and then, then, from that on, it become a conversation piece. And that's what I mean, that foods is the way to connect people without, truly, just, I guess, forcing a conversation from happening is that we, we, we all share the love of food. I mean, I am for sure, but I'm sure that a lot of listeners, people can attest to that as well. So,
Rachel Kobus 3:24
yeah, no, and I completely agree. I mean, you think about when we do a lot of social events even, or connect with friends like you can go out and do certain activities, but food ends up being the center of it too, and it's just easy to talk about. I mean, just last night, my toddler and I cooked homemade sloppy joes, and he thought it was the greatest, and just connecting family that way, and teaching them stuff like that, like it's great to build people, you know, up on just where food comes from, and our favorites, like you said, the cultural background of a lot of it, the lessons we learned. I think it's amazing. So you know, with that, you brought, once you started this entrepreneurship journey, you brought Boa Destination to our community. So can you tell me more about your bao? so where'd your recipe come from, and what makes it so amazing?
Vivian Kong Doctora 4:12
Well, if I have to tell you the secret, I will have you. What did they say? Well, so the story really started off, like, during the pandemic, right? We all sort of like, confine it in our own home. A lot of people kind of gravitate making sourdough bread. But I try, but I, for the love of God, couldn't make, I couldn't feed, the ease enough to really make sourdough bread, okay? But it's also brought up a lot of memories, like when we were young, my mom used to make Bao, and it used to be like a just long drawn all day process, because the recipe is complicated, you know, but it's also bring a lot of family together to make Bao, and then. And, you know, it just bring up a lot of memories. But I'm a very simple girl, anything's that more than maybe five or six ingredients. I'm like, you know, I need to go find another one, yeah, so I sort of take some of the things that she have, as far as recipe, and then incorporate into more a modern way of how people are making a East dose, how can rise a little bit faster. And just kind of YouTube here and there, look at some of the cookbook and mix and match, sort of what I my mom has, and what you know, the modern world of how Bao is being made, and then come up with, sort of my own recipe, as you well.
Rachel Kobus 5:40
So yeah. And then now, I mean, you can buy it at my I saw it when I had it. It was farmers market, I believe, yeah. And now you're local around the Bloomington, normal community, in specific grocery stores. Where else can you get your bao?
Vivian Kong Doctora 5:55
we now have it at HyVee, and also Fresh Thyme. So it's perfect timing, because we're just now, every time I move a kitchen space, I have to reapply all my permits necessary wholesale. So we just move again. So I just got approval. So we actually, literally, are going to drop bao back in HyVee today. Today's the day, yeah, and then Fresh Thyme is going to be in two weeks or so.
Rachel Kobus 6:20
Great. It's exciting. So I mean, again, if you're in the Bloomington Normal Community, you can try Vivian's recipe, and it is amazing. In, you know, speaking for you, being a food entrepreneur with Bao Destination, you ended your 21 year career with insurance, and that's a big leap, you know, like, that's why I call you a risk taker. So why did you decide to leap from corporate to kitchen, basically. Yeah,
Vivian Kong Doctora 6:43
it was really hard to leave because 21 pretty much most of my adulthood is spent in corporate environment, and we sort of move around with the company as well, so we live in different places around the country. But before Bao Destination, actually, I was working on the project I don't know some of the listener in the community may have heard of is a project called Trail East with Uptown Normal. I was going to open the first ever food hall in Uptown Normal. It's going to be a five storage building. The Food Hall is going to be in the first floor, where it allow independent, local vendor to have their food business inside a food hall, where you can go in and sample different food, but all in one place. So the that was before the pandemic and Pandemic hit, it pauses everything, and when it restart again, I thought, hey, I never owned a food business before. All these people gonna not going to trust me if I tell them it's going to be successful. I don't know anything about food. I don't know anything about owning a restaurant. So if I don't go and sort of own and operate a food business, it's going to hard for people to trust that we can operate a food hall. So I guess what is a perfect opportunity to sort of go out and do that. And at the time, I was like, well, there's a kitchen available at the Parke Regency Hotel. I don't have to build anything. So the starting capital is really low. And I was like, if I don't do that, then I the food hall is not going to be successful. At the time, the plan of building the food hall is still on the horizon, on the roadmap when I left my corporate job. So that was a plan is to take a few months learn about operation, step into the food hall project, and then move Bao Destination within the food hall. Obviously, it didn't happen. It's probably somehow, it's a blessing in the sky for what have you, but Bao Destination continues. So that's really is like the back story as to why, and because there's like a bigger vision behind just Bao Destination
Rachel Kobus 6:51
and you as an entrepreneur, I mean, and we talked already a little bit about it, just from your your biography, that you've just excelled in different areas and learned about, you know, how to run different businesses, and that this doesn't mean this vision couldn't become a reality later, you know, down the road too. But to really immerse yourself, I think that's very important to understand. So kudos to you. And then continuing, yes, and you mentioned your ghost kitchen that you started at the Parke Regency Hotel. So can you talk to us what is a ghost kitchen and what kind of opportunities it creates for a community?
Vivian Kong Doctora 9:27
So ghost kitchen concept actually is something to sort of pop up throughout the pandemic because of the lockdown or the restaurant kind of close. So ghost kitchen essentially is an opportunity provide for even startup or any existing restaurant an opportunity to still continue their offering without offering any dine in. Got it so basically, it's all take out and just delivery services and those kitchens also allow to have several different food very. Variety within one kitchen. So you can go to one place, just take Parke Regency Hotel as an example. When I was there, there was another lady also have her own business. She does something completely different than me. She has more a soul food home cooking variety like, you know, homemade mac and cheese, yeah, fried chicken sort of category. So, but everybody just go to one place and they can order different food, but they just don't have the dining option. So that was a sort of a trend, sort of growing during the pandemic. I think today there are still some ghost kitchen still happening around different part of the country.
Rachel Kobus 10:42
No, well, and it makes sense to great for small business owners, great to almost like a test kitchen, in a sense, too. That, like we said, low capital, try out different things. What does your community like? So, what they don't like? So, and it does not a huge risk. Maybe to start, if you want to start, absolutely
Vivian Kong Doctora 10:57
that first, yeah, I don't have to spend 100 and 100,000 building a commercial kitchen. The kitchen is already in play, so my focus would just be on my recipe, honing my skill, attracting customer. So, yeah, totally works. Great.
Rachel Kobus 11:12
Cool. Thanks for sharing that. I think that's something you know, interesting, especially for those that are in more the culinary understanding, like if you find a ghost kitchen, what those opportunities could be for you if you move into one. So as your entrepreneurship skills grew, we talked about you also obtained a real estate license. So why did you decide to do that, and how has it benefited you, maybe in your other endeavors.
Vivian Kong Doctora 11:36
So a lot of people know me will probably say, do you even sleep? I said, Yeah, I do. I do get my sleep. I am sort of one of the probably a late bloomer. I can sort of sit around and not busy. So I was like, you know, again during the pandemic, you know, I have Bao, but then it doesn't really take up all the time that I have. I'm sitting around at home anyway. So I said, Why not go get a real estate license? My goal was it really to just learn more about that industry, to kind of gain some knowledge. It's kind of helped because, as we were looking for place to open Kobe revolving sushi, I become, sort of like the represented commercial realtor to kind of help us find a spot, negotiate contracts. So all that knowledge that I probably wouldn't have if I didn't have a license, obviously, I can use utilize a lot of my friends who are great realtor intending to do it. But for me, I think it's really helped to just gain that knowledge, and down the road, I can be an investor in different property, all that stuff. So it's just an opportunity to kind of build a legacy and wealth for my kids and for my family. So
Rachel Kobus 12:57
yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. And like you said, it got you more into the Kobe revolving sushi bar too, which is an amazing, unique concept for a community like this. And I know across the country how many revolving sushi bars there are, but you just opened that as a partner in November 2024 so can you talk more about what's the concept of a revolving sushi bar, and what's been your day to day role in it? How's the community reaction been to it? I know it's a newer concept. So how's that all going? Yeah,
Vivian Kong Doctora 13:25
I can't certainly take all the credit for the concept itself. For sure, my business partner, Eric and Jason, who own Kobe Steakhouse today, they have, they drive a lot of the concept behind it may just kind of work out as a partnership for all three of us. Revolving sushi. It's not new, by all means. It's not like we invented it out of the thin air. It's actually it's been around. I remember when I was in Hong Kong in 1997 I remember going to several of them, and that was, what, 20, maybe 30, some years ago. So it's not a new concept there. Matter of fact, a lot of this revolving sushi or sushi on the conveyor belt concept have been popping around in the Chicago separates a different major city, like Los Angeles, Texas, Atlanta, you name it. But for Bloomington-Normal, we don't have one at all. It's really about the experience. You're sitting around. Every single booth is connected to a conveyor belt. The sushis is going to be on a conveyor belt. So you eat with your eyes oftentimes, right? You see sushi coming around, and it's like, Oh, I like that. Looks good. And you start grabbing it, and next thing you know, you have 20 plates already at your table easily. So I always said that food, obviously, is the way to sort of bring customer keep going back to the same restaurant, but an experience, is so much more important, because you will remember the experience that you had in the restaurant, and that's where revolving sushi kind of come into play. It's allowed you to experience sushi going on a conveyor belt. You have a chance to win prizes if you eat a certain number of plates. So all in all, is a family oriented place is good for a date night. It's good for a group of friends just want to go hang out. So it's cover like all group of target customer, and you walk out feeling like, Oh, that was, like, really fun. You know, I had a good time beyond just having good food.
Rachel Kobus 15:37
So now and we kind of goes back to like you said, food connects people, so to have that when we have those experiences, when we go to restaurants, that have those interactive ideas, that we can talk more about the food and like, are you going to try this? Are you going to try that? What is this? What's that you can just see it before you even technically try it, to decide. So I think it's just a very unique idea for this area and across the country too.
Vivian Kong Doctora 16:00
So yeah, very much. Encourage people. And it's also like a sampling, a lot of consumers said that then they don't have to order a roll and then commit to it. This way. They can all grab a few and then they can all try it out, sort of different role, and then figuring out what they like, what they don't like, and then if they like it, they'll eat it again if they don't they, yeah, just don't order it and don't grab it next time.
Rachel Kobus 16:24
Yeah. You know, I love the concept. And again, the atmosphere is gorgeous. You're the the lamp wall, walking in there with the lights and everything. It's just, it's just a great ambiance in there as well, too.
Vivian Kong Doctora 16:34
So that's all Eric, for sure, that his vision that he brought to us, and we're like, we don't really see it. But then when it like all come in complete we're like, you're right. You're right.
Rachel Kobus 16:45
You being an entrepreneur and having the, you know, green business, like understanding what that teamwork means, what working with partners means, and taking, again, risk taking, trusting each other. I'm sure that's all very important when trying to start up a business like this, too. So, yeah, yeah, sure. And then, so, you know, we talked about that interactive experience with food. So that kind of leads me to my next part, where we talked about you having immersion cooking classes Beyond Social, I believe. So what does that entail for you? So we're moving on to Vivian's about 10th you know, shop that she has but what's Beyond Social mean to you, and what does that cooking class look like?
Vivian Kong Doctora 17:23
Yeah, so beyond social, it's also a brain child, not just me, but with my business partner, Andrea. I knew her when I was working at State Farm, and then we kind of stay in touch, and we just, we all have wanted to use food to kind of share our culture and the background. So that's where beyond social, it's also post pandemic. A lot of people has been isolated. We thought bring in kind of immersion cooking class will kind of bring everybody back together, and again, it back to the food, connect people, piece of it. So we thought having a cooking class having people participating and learn how to make something together. It create a conversation piece and allow people to bring friends or even opportunity to meet a stranger. And we want to go beyond just cooking class, which is something that our vision is, it's not just cooking class, but any other group activities that we can bring people together is one beyond social. Is all about.
Rachel Kobus 18:23
cool, great. And again, it's just something like you said, unique, different, bringing people together. It's just nice to have. And your your entrepreneur skills just show through about it's truly about connection. And everything you do, I see so with you know that you've kind of started reaching into the younger market of entrepreneurs and trying to teach them the point of connection, of networking, of building your ideas. And you partnered with colab, I believe, event consultants, to create the Young Entrepreneur Market. So that became a local event for kids around here. And what kind of opportunities does Young Entrepreneur market bring through this event for our believe it's up to, like, five to 17 is the age that can do this kind of this event. So where did that come from? So
Vivian Kong Doctora 19:09
it started off with my daughter came to me about a few years ago and said, I want to sell my handmade jewelries. And I was like, Okay, I don't know where you can sell that, but I guess you can come to the farmers market with me. So she started adding a table in my booth selling her handmade jewelries, and they become very popular. And then she got to make some money. Learn about how to interact with customer. She learned about how to use some of the money that she made and then buy more inventory so that she can make more she learned about how to price her products. And I guess light bulb just came on, and it's like, why don't we have things like that for people at her age to a venue where they can set up a table, sell their products, and not only just a market just to sell their products, but the process of coming up with an idea, and then make the product to sell, and then to price it, to talk, to engage with stranger, in a way, because that's your customer to sell your product. And that's when the young entrepreneur market was born. And then my friend Amy and Kristen, they own colab, and they do a lot of vendor show. I said, Well, I want to pull in people who do what they do best to kind of help me execute that concept. So we started in 2021 2021 2022 because this is our third year already, and our we are in the process of accepting registration right now. You're right., it's for ages five and 17, if you have an idea, if you have a product that you wanted to sell, this is an opportunity for you to just, you know, and register $25 or $35 for a table or booth. It's not expensive, but we wanted to charge them as well, because it's in the real world. Everything costs money you factor into your investment so that you know that are you making a good business or not a good business? Yeah. So the ultimate goal and vision is not just to provide a market for these young entrepreneurs in our community, but also to kind of help them formulate that idea. So some kind of a summer camp, a workshop. It's kind of what I foresee in the future, but for now, it's a market, a platform, really, for them to showcase their products and learn more a little bit about entrepreneurship. Yeah,
Rachel Kobus 21:31
yeah. And again, starting at such a young age, how amazing is that? Then too, is if they move on to a higher education institution or moving on to vocational like understanding the business aspect of whatever trade they go into if they want to earn a business degree. How important all that is to learn early on then too, and really spark that. What can I do with this once I get into my real career? So how amazing that is. And hopefully, you know, you sharing this. I hope other areas around here, across the country, I know you always say it's not a new idea, but I think yours are always unique, that hopefully other people start bringing this concept to their communities too. Because I think that's just truly important of trying to make ideas, but don't reinvent the wheel, spread the ideas instead and make an impact too, so
Vivian Kong Doctora 22:14
that it's that is really a true statement. It's not about having that idea first. It's about how to make that idea different, yeah, than what the original idea is. So I think there are room for a lot of people to do things that already exist today. I mean, how many taco places do we have in town?
Rachel Kobus 22:35
I know, right? They're all different, they're
Vivian Kong Doctora 22:37
all different, they're all unique. Yeah,
Rachel Kobus 22:40
I agree. So, you know, I want to bring it back to Illinois State. You and your three siblings, I believe all attended ISU after moving to United States from Hong Kong, and you and your late sister, Eleanor, were among the founders of the Asian Pacific American Coalition an RSO that's still on campus today, in time being and doing well. So can you talk about ISU's impact on you, your siblings, and that legacy that you left on that RSO, I have to make mention that if you ever go into Hewitt, Manchester, there is the Kong room named after your sister as well, too, to have that legacy on campus. So you've left an impact on ISU. So what impact did ISU make on you and your family?
Vivian Kong Doctora 23:21
So my brother was the one first came to ISU. And I think some of you heard my story, I wasn't too bright of a student not to say anything about ISU, yes, but it's just convenient that Eleanor also applied for ISU. So, you know, for cost and everything, and ISU was the only school say, I'll take you Vivian. So I said,
Speaker 2 23:45
ISU, yes,
Vivian Kong Doctora 23:50
but with an ISU is such a great community. I met so many great people. We started getting involved in different student organization. And when Eleanor and I went, we're like all our friends just happened to me, we just gravitated to all the Asian American but we feel like there isn't a place for us to not only gather, but also spread our message and share our culture. And that's what APAC was born. It really started off as we just needed a organization, a place for us to get together, get to know each other, and to maybe welcome some new Asian Americans who come on campus, give them so much of a home, feel that you are among people of like minded, or maybe look more like you, time of atmosphere and we so glad that APAC is still thriving today. Eleanor did a lot of work to get to where it is before she passed, so I can't take all the credit to that as well. I'm glad that ISU have dedicated a room because of all the work that she. Have done on campus. We also have a Eleanor Kong endowment scholarship, yes, yes, that we establish under the College of Education. Each year we give out a scholarship to a students who apply, so that her legacy could continue to give on so I will say that, you know, I move back. I talk about I move away from Bloomington, Illinois to California to Virginia, and somehow I want to come back to Bloomington Normal so that stay a lot about not just ISU in itself, but also the community that really just made an impact on us, that we want to come back and raise our children in this place.
Rachel Kobus 25:40
Thank you for sharing that, and thank you remind me about the scholarship. Too, and how amazing again, the impact that you had on Illinois State and its students. And just to see, you know, even from a young age, you and your family, obviously, I'm going to say you as for the most part, too, creating something from such a young age, having those entrepreneurship skills, in a sense. So you start, you created APAC with, with Eleanor. You did your 21 year corporate career. You have Bao Destination. You have beyond social, Kobe revolving sushi bar, real estate, co author, book author. What's next?
Vivian Kong Doctora 26:19
I would like to continue to build on, sort of my entrepreneurial portfolio. I'm working on something that I can't really share right now, because I don't know how where it will go, but so hopefully it will come to fruition that I can probably share a little bit more about. But again, continue to focus my passion really is to help other people be successful. So I am happy to pay it forward and share anything that I have learned through this entrepreneurship journey, journey with anyone that interested in opening their business, food business or not, and also continue to nurture that young entrepreneur spirit, like I said, I would like to one day see building a summer camp or workshop to take a group of young entrepreneur who said, I have an idea, but I don't know what to do with it, and kind of teach them how to formulate that idea, turning into a business plan, turning into the actual idea, and use the young entrepreneur market as a way to kind of sort of implement and execute their idea right in front of everybody. So that is my passion. That is something that I want to leave my legacy on to do. So that's sort of going to be take me and keep me busy for the next few Yeah,
Rachel Kobus 27:36
for sure. What an amazing legacy to leave then too. So it's a great conversation to have with you, and I have one final question to end us. Yeah. So if you had to pick one favorite food, is it the bao bun? Is it a sushi roll? Is it something we've never even heard of before, something that's not on a menu at a specific place, something that's in the work--what is your favorite food?
Vivian Kong Doctora 28:02
Ooh, so my sister and I always reminiscence about all the street food that we had growing up in Hong Kong. Okay, so if I have to choose one thing that I always crave for with like remembering walking to school every day and just buying food off of these street vendors and just, you know, sort of the smell, the flavor, the, you know, aroma of it, which is kind of bring back a lot of great memories. Funny enough, my dad worked for the health department in Hong Kong, so he will always like caution is buying food the food vendor, you're like, yeah, that's, I mean, we say that we do go back one day we're gonna hit every single street food in Hong Kong, and just to sort of bring back all those memories. So if I have to choose, that will be probably one thing that I love it.
Rachel Kobus 29:00
I love it. Well, thank you for sharing that, and thank you for being with us today, Vivian and it was so amazing to talk to you and hear about your entrepreneur spirit, your dedication to it, the legacy you're going to leave and the impact you're making on a community that hopefully will spread across the country and maybe the world.
Vivian Kong Doctora 29:17
Who knows? Yeah, well, thank you so much for giving me that opportunity. I really appreciate it.
Rachel Kobus 29:33
And I just want to remind everyone too, that again, Vivian has an article in the spring 2025 edition of the magazine, and so be sure to read that. And again, we're happy to have you on Redbird Buzz. So I'll leave with that's 1996 College of Business alum and mastermind entrepreneur. Vivian Kong Doctora, thanks for listening and tune in next time for more stories from beyond the quad.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai