 to connecting Hawaii business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, owner of Kathleen Lee Consulting and I am your host for this program. Think Tech Hawaii is currently live streamed on ThinkTechHawaii.com as well as on Think Tech Hawaii's Facebook and YouTube channel. And for viewers out there who are watching us live, you are more than welcome to email us questions, to questions at ThinkTechHawaii.com. For today's show, I am super excited to introduce my friends. We have Lelaine Ignau and Eric Gunding, co-owners of Sama Sama, which is a boba, milk tea inspired, oh, Filipino inspired boba, milk tea company. Did I get that right? Yes, thank you so much for having us, Kathy. Of course, thank you Lelaine and Eric. Lelaine, let's start with you. Tell our viewers about yourself. Yeah, so I am the one half of Sama Sama and outside of that, I'm also a reporter for the Filipino channel, also known as TFC and AVS Theater International. And I'm also the founder of Kusong Philippinex, which is a Filipino market here in Hawaii that supports Filipino small businesses, creatives and organizations. What about you, Eric? Yeah, from the other half of Sama Sama. I do own two clothing businesses. One is called Breakthrough, which is more geared towards mental health awareness. The second clothing brand is Familiarware, which is a Filipino based clothing brand that the whole entire family can wear. I also do videography and photography and design as well. Awesome, so before you two started Sama Sama, you both already mentioned that you had entrepreneurial endeavors running separately. Eric, let's start with you. Could you go more into what the businesses that you started and then Lelaine will go over to you as well? Yeah, so I think, I don't know of me coming out of college. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but at the same time it's like seeing my parents and like most especially seeing my mom doing her five businesses. I think that inspired me to take that leap into like doing my own type of socials and whatnot, especially starting with the clothing brand at first. I think that's where my inspiration came from. And then of course, turning into the boba shop, you know, like, I think I've always liked the idea of having a business. Sorry, Eric, could you say that last part again? We kind of blanked out, but you said you always liked the idea of? Well, I always liked the idea of having a business. I don't know, I just, it's just rewarding to be able to work on your own, your own thing and then it's just exciting and thrilling. Absolutely agree with that. Lelaine, tell us about your entrepreneurial endeavors before our Sama-Sama came along. So I personally don't think that Pusum Filipinax is essentially an entrepreneurial endeavor per se. I feel like I'm more so, we act like a nonprofit. I think the business aspect of it is really hosting these small businesses. And for me, it was all about really giving a platform for our Filipino community out here in Kauai. I know that there's other events, there's other organizations and whatnot, but I feel like there's nothing really geared towards millennials and the next generation. And also have that platform, a safe space for people to really showcase their talent as business owners, as creatives, the community work. And so that's really where Pusum Filipinax came to life. And actually Pusum Filipinax is the reason why we started Sama-Sama. So everything that I do is very much so intertwined. That's awesome. Let's delve into that before we go into the business. What does Sama-Sama mean anyway? Yeah, so it means together, together, like let's join together. And I really wanted it to be a community-based Filipino-inspired bubble business with Pusum Filipinax. It really is about building community. And when I saw that we didn't have any drink vendors, we had one at our very first market, but they kept on running out. And I told Eric, I was like, you know what? We should start thinking about doing a bubble business, especially because I want to start one and have my own when I was in middle school. And I thought, you know what? Why not? All these Filipinos are doing amazing things of their businesses, they're thriving, they're successful and happy. What's stopping us from starting our own? And so we started planning in 2019. And then it wasn't until 2020 where we really took the leap. And actually this upcoming May 9 is our official one-year anniversary. That's so cool. Congratulations to both of you. So tell us about the company and the food truck. What do you serve? Like what are the flavors inspired by and all that good stuff? So tell us more. Yeah, Eric, do you want to go ahead and take that one? Yeah, so for the bubble business itself, we wanted to be unique in a sense of like, you know, there's so many bubble tea shops around the island. Like I feel like it's on every corner, right? You drive by and you see a bubble shop. And for us, we wanted it to be different. So basically all our sheriffs, we all handmade it ourselves. Everything's made fresh with like the real fruits, like fresh strawberries or mango, pomegranate. We wanted to have that aspect to it. You know, we didn't want it to be like another bubble shop where, you know, like you taste the tea and you go to another bubble shop and it tastes exactly the same. And for us, we want to be different in that way. And we wanted to be able to showcase that to people, to our customers that, you know, for unique in a sense of everything is made fresh, everything is handcrafted on spot. Yeah, and then Malin, if you want to add some more to that. Yeah, like I mentioned before, Eric and I are very much so, I guess you could say we're very, very passionate about our Philippine culture. And so when we started planning Sama Sama, we really wanted it to be around the culture. So to the general eye, when they look at the menu, they're kind of like, how is this Filipino? I don't understand. And for those who really understand, there are, we handpicked those flavors. So strawberry, of course, everybody knows what that is, but not everyone knows that we have strawberry farms in Baokyo. And so I want to pay oh to that, for example, or peach mango, we want to pay oh to Jollibee. And then of course the toppings, that's where it starts to look a little bit more Filipino where we have things like Sabaulaman, which is a mix of syrup, flavorless boba, and then Jolli or like the whole, which is similar thing, but instead of the Jolli, we turn it in, we add the soken tofu. So things like that, we just want to have a little bit of Filipino here and there. And as we grow as a business, we want to be able to grow our menu as well so that we can continue to educate others about our Filipino culture and our Filipino people. And do you folks collaborate with other vendors as well? I know you mentioned the teas, but Lelayne, I think you collaborated with other like food vendors before, is that right? Yes, so our starting menu is actually created by Chef Mileto of Minasa. And he's a really good friend of ours. He really pushed us throughout our journey of building Sama Sama along with our other food vendor friend. And so with our first generation of food menu, we had him come in and create a menu for us. And we're hoping for the future to continue the theme of Sama Sama, bringing people together. We want to be able to collaborate with other businesses as well. Let's go over the aesthetic of your truck, which I absolutely love. And saw for the first time at Aloha Tower this past weekend. So you have your Lelayne, you're in the truck right now. And, you know, if and when people get to see you, folks, there's also a Rotan chair outside of the truck. So tell us more about your inspiration for that. Yeah, I really wanted us to just go all out with showcasing that we're Filipino. And I wanted a modern twist to it. So of course, everybody knows about the Rotan. It's very popular right now, but not a lot of people know that it actually originates from different countries in Asia and including the Philippines. And then of course, if you can see the big spoon and the big fork, that's very common in a lot of Filipino households. We just wanted to tie in our Filipino culture and add a little bit of modern twist to it as well. Eric, did you have anything to add to that? And again, I commend both of you for having like great tasting offerings as well as, you know, beautiful aesthetic for the truck. But anything you wanted to add to what Lelayne had mentioned. Yeah, so for the truck itself, like, you know, you see a lot of food trucks on this island. And from the get go where like if we're putting in money for this food truck, we want it to look like the best. Like we want to make sure we present ourselves to the best of our abilities. And we wanted to showcase it as like a mobile cafe to people, you know. We didn't want it to be like another food truck that you see rolling around. We wanted to take care of every aspect from like what you see on the outside, especially with the neon light or the, or a coffee shell light, the rat time share that's something you don't really see with other food trucks, you know. We want it to be interactive with people. You know, when you come to our food truck, we wanted to create an experience for you. You know, like we want to allow you to take pictures with your food or drink. We want you to be able to sit down, you know, on the neon sign that we've seen that through the events that we've been doing. And like, especially when you look inside, like you want to give off that cafe vibe. You know, like you don't really see what other food trucks you just see. Like normally you just see, you know, like a silver wall with a lot of equipment and whatnot. And like, you know, that's not something that we wanted to do. We wanted to stand out and be different. And like, basically change the game on this island with food trucks. And you guys have done, if that is your goal, you have accomplished it through and through. So we are going to go on break, but when we return, I'd love to ask you two more about the business or in challenges, clientele and demographic and all that. So we will be right back. AppCook Connecting Hawaii Business on Think Tech Hawaii. Our guests today are Lelaine Ignau and Eric Gunding of Sama Sama. And when we last left off, we were talking about how their food truck stood out. So Lelaine, let's start with you. We'll not start, obviously. Let's continue with you. Walk us through the process of starting up a food truck business. You know, Kathleen, to be honest, I was more so just trying to keep us on budget and I'll be quite frank, I only did the cute stuff. So I think Eric really has to take this one and he no forms and out of that whole experience. So we credit you for the beautiful backdrop there. And again, the looks of it. So Eric, as Lelaine had mentioned, tell us about the nitty gritty of starting a food truck business. It's honestly hard. It's not, it's not really that easy. You know, if you talk to anyone who has a food truck, like it costs a lot of money. So I think a person for most have the budget, know exactly what you need inside. And of course, there are things that you may need. You may not need in the end, but I think you just need to be concise with your equipment, the person for most. Also know who you're working with, you know, especially with this food truck, like it's very hard to trust people, especially with all these high ticketed items, like all these refrigerators, all these restaurant equipment and whatnot. So you need to be able to trust the person that you're working with. And you need to be able to understand too, like how the equipment works, like which equipment is best. Like you don't want to be jipped at the end of the day with especially what's spending so much money on it. That is very good to know for our viewers out there who may want to take on that endeavor. What are some, well, actually, let me take it back. What is the demographic that you two have discovered as far as your client's health goes? It really just ranges from teenagers and kids to families and adults. It really just depends on where we pop up just because for us, we, you know, living in Hawaii is not cheap at all. So for us, the hustle's real. Any pop-up we can get, any opportunity we can get to put our name out there, share our culture and the Boba business with, we will take it. So it ranges from, for the most part, families, teenagers, young adults. And you started this, you had mentioned earlier that you started this last year since you are coming up on your one year anniversary for Sama Sama. So congratulations to you both. I think that is a great accomplishment. What are some challenges that you ran into starting up in the midst of COVID? I think the biggest thing was trying to figure out can we handle it financially because we were in such an interesting time of our lives. And I'll be honest, like we have a lot of student loan debt that we're dealing with still. And so it was trying to figure out do we take the leap or not? And I think with everything going on with COVID, everyone was just trying to figure out ways to make money. And at that time it was kind of more like, okay, it's now or never because if we don't do it now, when will we? So I think it's just really trying to take that big leap. It's just do it and not be perfect. And then figure out as you go. I think as you just take that first step, the details will come in as you go and work on it one more. I absolutely agree with that. Lilaine Dunn is better than perfect, right? We'll start somewhere, start anywhere. What are some interesting experiences that you two have gone through so far since the food truck business came up? I think the shortage has been a huge thing. I know there have been times where our cups or our lids have run out because shipment hasn't come in yet. So we try to figure out what cups do we use now? What lids? There were times where we forgot our straws so people had to go the list or even the boba shortage was right before we started our business. So we were ready to say, okay, we're just gonna make boba from scratch already. But thankfully we haven't had to do that just yet except for our special national tapioca day last year. So it's a lot. I think it's definitely a learning process with everything but I mean, what else can we expect with running a business? I think it's a blessing though that we get to learn these new opportunities, these experiences, gain these lessons. So yeah, for sure. Well, a central part of your business revolves around representing the Filipino culture. What is the importance of that? The importance or significance of representing the Filipino culture through everything that the food truck embodies? Eric, let's start with you. I think for us it's very important. You know, at the end of the day, like we can't change who we are. And growing up here, especially just a little background, like, you know, I grew up to shame with being Filipino. I feel like that goes for a lot of people here, especially getting teas in an elementary school or just teas for what you eat, what you drink, how you speak. And you know, it wasn't until Pusung or until Alayna, you know, I got re-inspired to be like, you know, I'm Filipino, we're all Filipino, like we need to just be proud of it. You know, we can't change that at the end of the day. Like we can't embody anything else but be a Filipino. Now with the food truck and the business itself, we want to be able to showcase that to people, you know, like when people see our menu, they get surprised when they see like Kala Manci or like the whole on it or like Hala Hala, they get all excited, you know. And the food aspect, drink aspect, that's what we want to be able to showcase to people, you know, like, this is my culture. This is something I should be proud of. And like, this is something that can be seen. And we want to be able to showcase to like, Filipino cuisine is always going to be here to stay, no matter what. And you know, it's finally time for us to showcase to the entire world that Filipinos are here. What about you, Lilane? I have to agree with Eric. I think for me, it was definitely just trying to put ourselves on the map and provide representation for our Filipino culture, especially through our food because not everyone knows what Filipino food is all about. Not everyone's attracted or great Filipino food on a regular basis. So I really wanted us to change that. And so I introduced it through Boba and eventually through dessert and food. I mentioned this earlier during our break, but I love watching the dynamic between you two because you seem to work really well together. What is it like being business partners as well as life partners? And again, congratulations on your engagement. I know you guys are set to make it official at the close to the end of the year, but tell us more about like that dynamic. You want to start? I think to be honest, we just bounce off of each other well. You know, when it comes to business, when it comes to like, we were able to know when to separate business from like our relationship. And I think that's important to us because for the most part, we're insane. It's crazy. Like some things that she thinks of, I'm already thinking myself. You know, or like some ideas already had, she was already thinking of it. So I think it was crazy that, you know, we're just that insane for each other. Yes, I have to agree just because if you, I mean, of course Kathleen, you know us personally, but people who know us personally, they know that we're opposite. I'm the more extrovert and Eric's the more of the introvert. And so as a relationship, of course, opposite to track, and of course we're gonna still have our issues or bump heads from time to time, but knock on wood when it comes to Sama Sama, like Eric said, we're so insane. I'm so blessed and grateful to have Eric as my life partner and business partner, and that it works out so well with Sama Sama, just our life. I love it. I absolutely love it. Is there anything else you too would like to add since we have a few minutes left? Eric? Yeah, please go ahead and follow us on Instagram, at SamaSamaTV. Look out for our May schedule. We're in for a busy month, definitely. So we hope to see you all there at one of our pop-ups. Yeah. Lilene, what are some upcoming events that you guys have within the next week or so? Yes. So it is Teacher Appreciation Week this week. So we have been collaborating with some schools, providing Boba to the teachers as a little thank you for them. And so we have an event tomorrow at one of the schools in Kapolei. And then on Friday, we have May Day Celebration at Barrington High School from 4.30 to 9.30. On Saturday, we have a double event. But we have Mother's Day Makage at Dream House at the beach from 9.00 to 1.00. And then another Teacher's Appreciation event at Ample High School from 4.30 to 9.30. Awesome. Oh, it looks like we have a couple more minutes to spare. So what is, from each of you, what is one lesson learned that you would like to share with viewers out there, especially people who may want to start up a small business or a big business, either way? I would say just go for it. What I would do all the time because essentially it took us two years to really get ourselves to just go out there and do it. So in those two years, we were just constantly brainstorming any ideas that came to mind. We would put it on our notes, on Google Drive. And then it wasn't until the last six months that we really went in and figured out where do we get our supplies from? What are the recipes for our stirrups? What is the recipe for the drinks? How do we go about this? And so I think we're super grateful that we were able to have Pusum Food Connect and then, of course, Eric's two clothing brands and his media program, his media business that it helped us also learn some business site, business lessons along the way and that we could put it into some pama. But I say just really plan out, but don't overplan it because you might take yourself out. I think when you know that it's becoming too much, just go for it, go from there. I like that. What about you, Eric? Yeah, pretty much just echoing the lane. The balance life is just short, you know? Could be here today, gone tomorrow. Basically, my rule with them is if you have it already in your head, it's already in someone else's head, too. So you might as well jump on it while you still can and make the most out of it, definitely. Wonderful. Let's pull up your Instagram and how can people find you both here? What is your handle? So SamaSamaTea for Instagram and Facebook. I believe TikTok as well. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you, Eric and Lelaine for joining us today and for talking about your company and thank you to the entire staff at Think Tech Hawaii as well, to Jay Fidel and the folks who make this happen. We had Michael and Haley who helped us out today. Until next time, aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.