Building a Vietnamese-Inspired Snack Brand with Lan Luong of Chicka Chew
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Lan Luong spent the first half of her career as a public accountant auditing German food manufacturers. She walked production lines, watched products come together, and found herself fascinated by how things were made. Then she stepped away from her career to raise her children, a decade of full-time parenting, intentional feeding, and building healthy habits from the ground up.
When she went back to work, everything changed. Late nights, takeout, and the kind of snacks she had spent years keeping out of her house. She needed something better, something easy, portable, and actually good for her kids. She couldn't find it, so she made it. A Vietnamese-style dried chicken snack she grew up eating, brought into her kitchen and made for her son Liam.
Liam loved it. His friends loved it. He brought it to the schoolyard, handed it to every kid he could find, and then came home and asked his mother: "Can I sell this?" That question became Chicka Chew, a 100% chicken breast snack made with bold, craveable flavors, rooted in Vietnamese culinary tradition and built for busy families on the go.
Subscribe to the Food Means Business Podcast with Hudson Kitchen founder Djenaba Johnson-Jones to hear the personal stories and "secret ingredients" of abandoning your day job and starting a CPG food business.
Tune in to hear...
How a decade of intentional parenting became the foundation for a food brand
Why Lan couldn't find a healthy portable snack for her son and what she did about it
What the Food Business Bootcamp® taught her about food safety, operations, and finding her product category
How working with the Drexel Food Lab helped her discover that Chicka Chew isn't chicken jerky, it's something entirely its own
The story behind the name, the packaging, and a son who believed in the product from day one
Her plans to produce at Hudson Kitchen, sell direct-to-consumer, and scale to a co-packer
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About Lan Luong
Lan Luong is the founder of Chicka Chew, a Vietnamese-style dry chicken snack brand built for busy families who refuse to compromise on what they eat. With a background in public accounting and over a decade spent raising her children with intention, Lan brings both financial discipline and a mother's conviction to building her brand. She is a Food Business Bootcamp® Startup Accelerator graduate and a Hudson Kitchen member.
Connect with Lan and Chicka Chew:
Visit the Chicka Chew website
Follow Chicka Chew on Instagram
Follow Chicka Chew on TikTok
Connect with Lan on LinkedIn
Stay Connected with Djenaba Johnson-Jones:
Visit Hudson Kitchen
Follow Hudson Kitchen on Instagram
Connect with Djenaba on LinkedIn
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Djenaba Johnson-Jones (00:01)
Today I'm joined by Lan Luong, founder of Chicka Chew. Welcome, Lan.
Lan (00:13)
Hi, Djenaba. Thank you for having me today.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (00:17)
Let's talk first about how we met each other. we met, it's been, was last year, 2025. So let's give you a little bit of, give us a little bit of background.
Lan (00:29)
Yes, I think like our interaction had way way way back. I think it's meant to be really. I first reached out to Hudson Kitchen at the time I want to develop another product. It's called Vietnamese Pho broth. It was like one day, right? You know, this was like one day event, boot camp. It was amazing. A lot a lot of information. I learned a lot. However,
Lan (00:57)
It's so compact. I still feel so overwhelmed. And so many things happen in between. So I put that idea on hold. And then when you came up with this new Greek bootcamp and reach out, I still remember the moment when you email, I read your email in my mind, I was preparing to launch a consulting firm. So I also have another consulting, many projects in the pipeline.
Lan (01:23)
So I was about to launch a consulting firm and I saw your email and read up the program. And I said, you know what? This is meant to be. We got to do this. Fast forward a year from now, here we are doing bootcamp. hopefully in June, will get, know, last year, remember last year I was walking the hall in awe with everything and wished at the time, you know, one day I can be here as well. And
Lan (01:51)
A year later, can you believe it? A year later and I'm about to have a boot. It's amazing. Absolutely will win.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (01:54)
you
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (01:55)
It's so exciting. yeah, so we met at the food business food camp and you had a different idea. And so I was actually surprised when you were like, I'm going to come back and do the class again in the different format. So was really exciting to have you with us. And so yeah, and this year you'll be at the Summer Fancy Food Show with us with the incubator village. That's really exciting. So tell everybody what is Chicka Chew and how did that idea come about?
Lan (02:17)
Yes.
Lan (02:19)
Yes.
Lan (02:25)
Um, Chicka Chew. So, um, I think probably a little step back. So my background, um, my first half of the adult life, I'm starting out in public accounting. Um, I did it for a while. start from entry level all the way up to manager running my own audit. Um, most of my, most of my client at the time was actually German food manufacturers. So walking the production line, you know, assembly.
Lan (02:53)
and to see how things come into place and to come with the final product has always been like fascinating for me. But it was just that, it was just the client, right? And so then I'm moving on to the second part of my adult life, which is having and raising children. I was so fortunate, I was able to take an extended maternity leave to be with my children in their younger years.
Lan (03:24)
I raised them and they helped me. They have grown me as well. I grew as a person, as a mother. And it was tremendous time spending with them, you know, helping them on the early days. And now that my little girl is five years old, I don't know, seven years old, she's in first grade now, it's time for me to go back to work, to get back to my career. So I went back to work.
Lan (03:54)
it was, it was not a too bad of a transition. However, I woke into the night. I said, no, I firsthand experienced the struggle of the busy family. trying to run between school, between practice, between words, try to make sure, you know, I spent the decade raising them, like feeding them, like everything's that's whole organic and develop such a healthy taste, eating diet.
Lan (04:21)
And now to see it all of a sudden, like, I had to go back to work and work into the night and we ate out a lot and we eating like all kind of junk snack. it was, it was such a struggle for me. was heartbreaking for me. And at the moment, and then I realized, you know what? I got to do something else, right? I got to do a better, I spent the last 10 years developing, helping raise them. You know, if I drop the ball now, it's such a waste of effort.
Lan (04:51)
And coincidentally, I need to find snack, right? I need to make snack for Liam. He's travel, he's been a travel stalker. Couldn't find a good healthy snack options. So I make dry chicken snack, the Vietnamese style dry chicken snack. He loved it. His friend loved it. Everybody loved asking for more. And then it's the, it's the many thing, I think it's had to be many thing aligned at the same time as I want something.
Lan (05:20)
a more flexible approach so I can be there for my kids at the same time pursuing my career. And here you go, there's such a high demand for Healthy Snack. And there you go, we have, and that's how Chicka Chew come about. It has been a, yeah, it really is a journey and it's it's rooted from the love and indications of a mother, of a parent, and it grow into,
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (05:34)
So thank you. I appreciate the background.
Lan (05:49)
a solution as my way of giving out a helping hand to other busy parents out there that when it comes to healthy snack, I got you.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (06:00)
So tell me more about the product itself. Where did the idea for the dry chicken snack come from?
Lan (06:12)
So, Chicka Chew, again, back in the, from the frustration of finding a healthy snack options. And it made me, remind me of growing up in Vietnam, Growing up in Vietnam, after the war, we have very limited options when it comes to snack. We only have fruits and assortment of dry chicken and seafood as a snack.
Lan (06:39)
No, what seemed to be so like a limited option at the time turned out to be a blessing because my generation grow up with such a healthy snack eating habit. And so like giving, taking all of that childhood memories and bring into my kitchen. And I started making dry chicken snack. This is a fully cooked chicken. We marinated, we dried it with very bold and craveable flavors. It is so easy and it's so lean. Chicken is...
Lan (07:09)
100 % chicken breast, just chicken breast, right? And it's so easy on the go. Liam loved it. My son loved it. He shared it with his friends. He brought it to his schoolyard and asked, it to every single kid that he saw and asked them to try and give him feedback. They love it. They want more. And so he asked me, can I sell this mom?
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (07:35)
you
Lan (07:38)
You know, the only appropriate response would be, you know what, let me find out. Because this is meat after all, we can't just sell it because I'm not sure it's legal, but let me find out. And that's how we reach out. And then it's just come in the time when, you you email me and I saw this program. It's like, this is God sent. And that's how we started, you know, into really realistically putting that dream into.
Lan (08:08)
actions. And then the name, even Liam came up with the name. So it's really, this is like the whole family affair. Liam came up with the name, Liam say, you know, maybe Chika. And then, and then he said, but you know what, mom, picture this, how about this? Picture this, a group of middle schooler walking by from soccer practice. They cool, they active, and they have swag.
Lan (08:37)
And you know, and they say, if you want to be cool, eat Chicka Chew. And there it is, Chicka Chew it is, we got the name.
Lan (08:50)
So we currently, we we plan on launching three flavors. We have the OG savory, which is zero added sugar. We use apple and honey to replace the regular sugar. And that is for kids and a little, you know, not so adventurous taste consumer. It's satisfying, it's fulfilling, at the same time, it's completely healthy and lean. And we also have our
Lan (09:20)
And then if you, if the consumer, you know, someone looking for a little tangy, sour lamb with a kick, have, lamb and heat. if I, someone like, you know, would a very adventurous taste, but, and craving world flavor in spy flavor, we have our legacy tropical heat flavor. Now it has come quite lemongrass, ginger and chili all mixed into one on.
Lan (09:49)
It's like a symphony of the flavor that can bring you back, transport you back to the tropical land.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (09:57)
So talk a little bit about that. You just finished the boot camp program. What did you, what do you think? And like, kind of like what surprised you most about the process of going through creating your products?
Lan (10:10)
Yes, I have to say all in all, it has been an instrumental program. I would not know where to start and to get to where we are now is absolutely humbling experience and forever like I have such a full gratitude to you and your team right now. So in all transparency, we start out, we start the journey with a very big, with a big question in mind. In my mind was,
Lan (10:37)
Okay, how come there's no one doing chicken jerky, right? know, America is such a marketing engine. The market, we can market anything, but how come there's no chicken jerky? So it makes me very skeptical, coming from an auditing background too. I'm always wearing that skeptical head in mind. And so the main purpose that I want to achieve, you know, starting the bootcamp is to figure out.
Lan (11:03)
Is it healthy? Is it safe? What am I doing now? Is it even safe to sell the stuff out there? I know deep down, you know, we grew up with this in Vietnam. Like we eat it for years for generations, but I just don't know. I just couldn't understand why there's nothing like this in the market. And entering the bootcamp with such a big question that I need to find answer for, and we did and more. We found out that, you know,
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (11:05)
you
Lan (11:30)
Maybe we, what we doing is not jerky. What we doing is a dry chicken snack. It's just a totally on its own category. And because it's fully cooked with the processor we made, we start with fully cooked chicken. We dry and we, we dry it. It's fully cooked. It's fully safe. It's a hundred percent safe. So that in my, that was like a mind blowing moment for me and for us and for Chicka Chew that we know that we can do it.
Lan (12:00)
This is safe, this is % safe and healthy snack option to be to produce and sell in the market. So I owe that, I owe all that to Hudson Kitchen Bootcamp.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (12:11)
Thank you. But you worked with the Drexel Food Lab team to kind of work through those, your questions, to kind of figure that out. Talk a little bit about that.
Lan (12:16)
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Dr. John, Dr. Jonathan and Director Rachel and the whole Drexel Food Lab team absolutely gave us such a courage and confidence to claim our brand identity. And they gave us, and they said, you know, we are not jerky brand. We don't have to be one. are Vietnamese style.
Lan (12:45)
dry chicken snack, khô gà. And they love, and we was able to develop from the, we fine-tuned the process. We commercialized, we developed a commercialized recipe that not only is safe, but it's also efficient and full on flavor. Something that knew that, and also they add onto it, they gave us the courage, right? To claim this is us, we can claim this our own. This is khô gà, just like kimchi.
Lan (13:15)
This is going to be school. And so that is absolutely mind blowing and such a boost of confidence for us to keep going.
Lan (13:42)
Opus team, I have nothing but a very, all applause. I really, have like a big applause to the team. We start with a very simple concept in mind. What we want, so Liam, my son, he used chat-tipity to generate this image of Chicka in his mind. It's like cool with shade and change and whatnot.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (14:04)
you
Lan (14:12)
We started with that and then we worked with Opus Hours firm. The designer and Bea, Bea and her designer and her team members did such a tremendous job in helping us with our brand strategies. We want to create something that for the quality we gain, the mom trust as far as the quality of the product, but we want to create a package that our kids, their kids,
Lan (14:41)
would be proud to hold, to have in their hand and to share. And that's what we have. This is the design that we came up with. So we have this chicken, this is a bowl, it's very catchy, but it's gonna stand out on the shelf, right? So at first, and it come with like the slogans and we have all this new call out that we have. So.
Lan (15:08)
They were able to work with us from an idea stage and develop and full on the packaging, the design that is absolutely exactly on point to where we want to be and to articulate, to bring our vision to life.
Lan (15:34)
Yes.
Lan (15:37)
It's such a quick turnaround time too and they pay such a close attention to detail. There's nothing missed or missed here. Everything has an intention and everything has a very fine touch to it. We absolutely loved it.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (15:53)
Yeah, it is so it looks so good. So tell me a little bit about what your plans are now. So you finished the boot camp and you were going to come to the summer Fancy Food show with us in June. But tell us like where what are you what are your next steps after completing the boot camp last week?
Lan (16:09)
Yes, so after the pitch we have various people came approach and wanted to work with us, is absolutely humbling. still, my mind was still like in stage of disbelief right now. I don't know how am I going to be able to fulfill that promise because we're not producing yet. And I was like, okay, how can I put this together and then make it happen and not disappointed, you know, with all the
Lan (16:38)
follower. So I would, I definitely probably after this podcast, we need to have a conversation. just came back from Chicago, like the Mecca of startup, right? A food startup. And I had nothing but positive feedback. So that again, it's fuel my determination right now. So for the next six months,
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (16:39)
You
Lan (17:07)
We want to work with Hudson Kitchens and we want to produce, we want to start producing and we start with the B2C approach first. We're going to make an app and then attend a trade show and use that six month runway to get enough data and also buy us some time to find and engage a co-packer for the next step. So that is the process. That's the plan.
Lan (17:53)
My first immediate advice is Hudson Kitchen is going to open up another bootcamp soon. That's your first stop. You need to stop there. Bring your ideas, something that you loved, that you just keep wanting to do it for the longest time. Now is the time because with the bootcamp, what it does is give you a launch pad and also is an encouragement.
Lan (18:22)
This is like, it's like a sandbox, basically. Just put that into help you bring that concept into life, right? So first, I first advice is find a bootcamp, something similar to Hudson or if not Hudson or something similar and start there. If anything, there's no guarantee it gonna work or it will or will not work. But at the very least you bring that concept and idea.
Lan (18:51)
and try to work on it, you won't regret it. And that's the first step I would recommend.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (19:00)
Thank you so much for being here. Let everyone know where they can find you and Chicka Chew.
Lan (19:05)
yes. So please follow us at @chickachewcool on Instagram and TikTok. We also have website chickachew.com.
Djenaba Johnson-Jones (19:15)
Thank you.
Lan (19:17)
Thank you so much for having us.