In the summer of 2018, Noelle Dang (11) and her two siblings got called downstairs by their father to try his culinary creation: chocolate ice cream made from scratch. 

“He shared it with the entire family and we were so impressed that we went to all of our relatives and friends and shared the ice cream,” Dang said. “Everyone loved it so much that they decided to start paying my dad to make ice cream for them because it was so good.”

What Dang thought would just be a fun family moment turned into something much bigger. Soon, it was no longer just chocolate ice cream that her father was making, but a whole catalog of  untraditional flavors for an ice cream business now known as Dang Good Ice Cream..

However, as in all big start-up projects, the Dang family ran into many obstacles. One was having to go through the long process of getting licenses to sell food and build their factory. 

“Processing [the licenses] took a very long time, and the city was super strict on fitting all of the requirements to give us our license to commercially produce ice cream,” Dang said.

Even with the long process, Dang could see the dedication her parents had to making their vision become a reality and felt a growing urge to contribute to her family’s brand. She wanted to see her parents succeed in a craft that they fell in love with.

“I stopped playing as many tennis tournaments due to how busy my parents were on the weekends,” Dang said.

In October of 2019, Dang Good Ice Cream was launched, a memorable and momentous moment that marked the one-year anniversary of when Dang and her siblings humored their father’s first ice cream creation.

Despite her initial skepticism, Dang was quick to help out as best she could with her parents’ dream.

“My siblings and I have contributed lots to the management of the factory and the graphic design of the labels and stickers,” Dang said. “I even come into the factory at times to make the ice cream and [the] packaging.”

Dang enjoys contributing to a large-scale project that could have the potential to become successful while making her parents happy.

“My family strongly believes that culture means sharing it [with others], and producing Vietnamese ice cream [on a commercial scale] allows us to share [our culture] with the community,” Dang said. “Especially for people who have never tried our flavors before.”

Wanting to stand out and share their Vietnamese culture, the Dang family decided to break away from the traditional vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors and instead take on the role of filling in the lack of Asian ice cream flavors. 

“[My parents] decided to create their own flavors like using the stinkiest fruit in the world, durian, as our main advertised ice cream flavor, and more Vietnamese-based flavors as well,” Dang said.

The Dang family felt the need to reach a location that could cater to their goal of spreading Asian-inspired flavors such as durian, ube, coconut, Vietnamese coffee, hibiscus dragon fruit, jackfruit, and more. 

Dang said that Rowland Heights, east of Los Angeles, was the best option for the family as they would be able to better cater toward their target market of younger customers, as well as have more of a chance to bring popularity to their Asian dessert-flavored ice creams. Here, they anticipate opening their first scoop shop.

Aside from being dedicated to her studies and other extracurriculars, Dang makes sure to set aside time to help her family in any way she can. This ranges from coming up with new flavor ideas for the holidays, to then going to the factory and adding the flavorings into the mixer herself.

Months in on perfecting their flavors and recipes, Dang Good Ice Cream started reaching out to many Asian markets in California, and some in Arizona, with the goal of spreading their carefully curated dessert with various communities. 

“My mom is very good with marketing, so she was able to connect with a lot of supermarkets through her own personal connections,” Dang said. “My cousins have also been able to get us into Asian supermarkets.”

After a year of distributing their ice cream to more than 25 Asian markets, the Dang family decided to make a large jump and commit to an in-person scoop shop.

“I suggested that my parents look for a more modernized layout of the scoop shop since our ice cream company [doesn’t have] the traditional American flavors,” Dang said. “We are trying to build the shop to cater towards a younger audience.”

 Dang said that the most rewarding part of this experience for her was seeing the reactions of their customers as well as seeing firsthand her parents’ growing brand.

“The best part [about helping out] is selling our ice cream at festival stands and seeing our customers’ reactions right then and there,” Dang said. “Some smaller influencers, and even Austin McBroom, reviewed our ice cream on Instagram as well.”

With the Dang Good Ice Cream scoop shop’s grand opening coming soon on May 18 in Rowland Heights, Dang looks forward to new responsibilities and new projects, as well as the future of her family’s ice cream business with excitement.

“Ice cream may seem like a free hobby to many at home, but for my family, it’s our culture and maybe even a legacy in the making,” Dang said.