Meet Cindy Louie of Hawker Street Market in Scottsdale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Louie.

Cindy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Three years ago, I launched my very first business Go Studio Go, a multi-disciplinary design firm specializing in architecture, interior design and branding for Food and Beverage Industries. Prior to launching, I had the amazing opportunity to do work with some of the top hospitality design firms in the Valley, including work for renown restaurateur, Sam Fox.

I’m a multi-disciplinary designer and proud Sun Devil. I completed my undergraduate in Interior Design and my master’s in Architecture, both at Arizona State University. As a student, I always admired the Bauhaus movement and idolized multi-disciplinary designers like Charles and Ray Eames, who were architects, but also most famously dabbled in film, graphic and furniture design as well. Their approach to design was holistic and broke traditional boundaries of how architects and designers were defined. They viewed design as a way of thinking. Design was not static and did not start or stop at buildings or products. Design was about creating an experience, one that engages them in a sequence of events that impacts them in a meaningful way. Mediums didn’t matter, it was all about the approach.

My fascination with this view of design is what led me to become a multi-disciplinary designer. It’s also why I chose to work with food. One, because it’s the only place you can engage in all five senses, sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. And two, most importantly, because I love eating. It’s literally my middle name. My Chinese name is Lui Ho Yun, the Chinese character Ho means able to, as in, able to do things and able to eat. Funny enough, my grandfather gave me that name in hopes that I would be able to accomplish everything I would ever dream to do and never be hungry doing them. I can happily tell my grandfather, so far so good.

Although happy to be where I am today, the first couple of months as an entrepreneur did have me questioning my namesake. I started with a couple of small projects at launch, but I quickly discovered the work was not enough to sustain me long term. I was constantly networking and working on social media to find clients, but not much was coming my way. Finally, I decided to take a stab at approaching my problem with design. Who was my client, what did they want, how do I reach them and is there an experience or product I could create to accomplish this?

My solution? Design a food festival. Not your traditional approach, but for me it was the perfect. It was a way for me to build a genuine relationship with potential clients who were ready to launch their businesses and bonus, give back to the community at the same time. Since festivals were seasonal, I would be able to do this while designing projects full time, hopefully with vendors I would meet. I was terrified. Especially since I had never put on a festival before. But I kept pushing forward, meeting with like-minded individuals to partner with, knocking door to door for sponsorships and together we launched the first Asian inspired Night Market in downtown Phoenix in April 2018.

That year, PHX Night Market helped launch ten brand new businesses from scratch and showcased over 60+ food and retail vendors to over 13,000 people across the Valley, all over the course of two nights. The event was such a hit that we decided to go for round two and produced it for a second year, last April in the warehouse district.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
After the last event, it became evident that the festival was becoming more taxing on some of us more than others. As a result, we decided to dissolve the partnership and go our separate ways. Break-ups are never easy. This was a difficult and very bumpy road for everyone to cross. It tore my heart seeing PHX Night Market go after all that hard work and passion I put into it. But as difficult as it was, it was the only way for everyone to move forward.

Of all the projects and ventures I had worked on, PHX Night Market was the one that I felt had the greatest impact on my personal growth and on the local community. Vendors with different backgrounds began making food together, cross collaborating on new dishes. Attendees reached out telling us all the different foods they had for the first time that they had never experienced before. City officials even told us that they had never seen so much diversity in a crowd. It was the experience that gave me a glimpse into how much food could really impact our local culture.

Through this process, I also came to realize that this was not an end. This was the beginning of an even greater experience in the making, possibly one with even more opportunities for other experiences to grow out of.

Please tell us about Hawker Street Market.
Thus, Hawker Street Market was born.

The term “hawker” is used widely in Asia and other countries around the world for street vendors who sell goods that they’ve perfected over decades by selling to patrons on the streets. The name grew from my own personal experience with a hawker stall and how it connected me back to my roots.

When I was young, my parents didn’t really talk to us about our heritage or cultural traditions much. We spoke English at home and only learned Cantonese to communicate with my grandmother. My parents were worried we might get confused with too many languages and that it might hinder us from learning and adapting to the cultural and education systems in the US.

My freshman year of high school was the first time I really become acquainted with my Chinese heritage. The turning point was our first trip to Hong Kong as an entire family for my Grandfather’s birthday. I remember my parents were so lost when we first landed because so much had changed since they left. My mom found out that one of her favorite hawker stalls, as a kid, was still operating in the neighborhood she grew up in. Naturally, it became the very first stop we went to once the plane landed. When we got there, the home she once knew had turned into brand new condominium skyscrapers and the park where the stall once parked was paved over. It took us a while to find it, but eventually, we found it! A bit aged and on the verge of retirement, but the same exact vendor was still selling the same hand pulled dragon beard candy my mom bought every day after school. Dragon Beard candy is a traditional Chinese treat that’s like cotton candy where sugar is pulled into tiny thin threads and then wrapped around a delicate mixture of sugar, sesame seeds and seasonings.

That was the first time I had ever heard of Dragon Beard Candy. Quite frankly, I was resistant to trying it when my mom bought it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even like it at the time because I thought it was weird. Today, that stall along with many other Hawker Stalls are practically non-existent in Hong Kong because younger generations are moving into more opportunities with education and don’t feel the need carry on that type of work anymore. Most of the areas where the stalls used to be, have also become prime real estate for developers.

For me, that experience changed my life. It was the first time my parents were able to physically share a part of their past with me. It also sparked my fascination with food. I was born in the US, so being “Chinese” wasn’t something I inherently knew. Being ABC (American Born Chinese) was something I learned through my own life experiences and through sharing experiences with my family, mostly through food.

As I grew older, that hawker stall story became my favorite talking point and food became the thing I knew and talked about the most with everyone I met, next to weather of course.

Hawker Street Market is an extension of that cultural exchange I first had with my family. It’s a platform for people of all different identities and backgrounds to enrich the local community together. More than 50 food and retail vendors will gather in one space to share their culture through food and products. We’re starting a new dialogue of cultural exchange through food. This experience will also be an incubator for people who want to start businesses but who might not have the means to do so. We turn underutilized spaces such as parking lots, streets and building vacancies into affordable spaces for businesses to test out their ideas.

Although freshly launched, Hawker Street Market has already hit a major milestone. This year we are incredibly honored to gain a huge community partner, Arizona State University. Hawker Street Market will be one of the first large scale community events to happen on main campus. Arizona State University is an essential part of Arizona’s growing fabric and economic development. As a company, we’re proud to be a catalyst in helping to weave together the campus and local community. To help create a place for excellence in both education and community gathering.

This past October, we had our first test run in collaboration with ASU365 Community. The team tasked with transforming one of the campus’s largest and most underutilized facilities, Sun Devil Stadium into a multi-use community center that could be used 365 days of the year. Together we hosted the first ever, Foodie Bowl. With over 5,000 attendees, families were sprawled across 100-yard field with picnic blankets enjoying everything from boba, baos to beignets, all while watching the Lion King on the Jumbo Tron. We saw families of all different generations and backgrounds coming together for the first time to experience new foods and share stories. The test run ended up being one of the most diverse crowds ASU has seen at a public event.

I can hardly hold the excitement of what we have in store for our flagship event, Hawker Street Market in Spring of 2020. All I can say is stretchy pants are a must.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have started earlier.

I think we often spend most of the time preparing to start, rather than just going for it. One of the most memorable things I learned during college was critique I had in Architecture Studio; my professor told me to needed to make more ugly things. It turns out, I was so concerned on having a good outcome that I ended up curating my process more than going through the process itself. I didn’t allow myself to play, explore, make a mess, fail and start all over. Making a mess or potentially failing at something was uncomfortable for me. I was terrified of doing anything that I wasn’t absolutely certain of. You can imagine how much anxiety I’ve caused myself in becoming an entrepreneur.

Today, I’ve come to learn that all the things I didn’t anticipate for, even though they were messy and sometimes very ugly, are the ones that work out for the best. They end up becoming the things that help define me and impact my life in the most meaningful ways.

After all, the best stories are the ones with a plot twist!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hawkerstreetmarket.com
• Email: hello@hawkergang.com
• Instagram: @hawkerstreetmarket
• Facebook: @hawkerstreetmarket

Image Credit:
Arizona State University, Anyssa Iwamoto, Dyna Prom, Zee Peralta, Andre Bautista, Momma Fung Buns, Pokitrition

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