Gap Year Articles

Vietnam gap year leads to £3.6m business

1 Jul 2010

Stephen and Juliette Wall quit their marketing jobs in 2004 to take a nine month backpacking adventure in search of a concept for a restaurant. They tasted dishes across Latin America and Asia before deciding on a traditional Vietnamese noodle dish, called Pho. Restaurants serving the dish in Australia, France and the USA had already found it to be successful and popular. In the UK, Pho could only be found in long menus in traditional Vietnamese restaurants that also offered Chinese food.

In spite of a lack of experience, the couple were able to get a loan from a bank (on account of the niche in the market that they had found), and started their restaurant business, which they called 'Pho'.

Inspired by the excellent traditional food that they had sampled in Vietnam, the couple were able to impress diners, and the business grew due to its good reputation and reviews. They succeeded in bringing the essence of their gap year back to the UK, and now with four restaurants and a £3.6m turnover, Pho is going from strength to strength.

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