Business Spotlight: Lily’s Vegan Pantry
Lily Ng, owner
Lily’s Vegan Pantry
213 Hester St
We’re excited to spotlight Lily’s Vegan Pantry! Lily’s Vegan Pantry is a family-owned business that was established in 1995 (originally as May Wah Vegetarian Market) and is the first vegan grocery store in Chinatown. Lily Ng currently owns and runs the store, which was opened by her parents when they came to the United States from Taiwan 40 years ago. After seeing that there weren’t good vegetarian options, they opened their store first as a vegetarian shop.
Blog by Enoch Kim, Photos by Donny Tsang
Tell me about yourself and your business!
So we're a family-owned business, opened in 1995. My mom started everything when she came here 40 years ago, and realized there weren't a lot of good vegetarian options. She decided to look around for more vegetarian options, but couldn't find any, so she just stuck with the regular vegetarian tofu diet that they had here. Because we were very involved with temples in Taiwan, a temple master recommended we open a vegetarian shop. When she first started, she had no experience with importing or opening a grocery shop, and it was just completely new. But, she decided to take on the challenge.
I remember when I was 10 years old, we had a 40-foot container shipment and had to unload everything ourselves because we didn't know how to hire anybody. That 40-foot container had almost 3,000 boxes, and it took us quite a long time to sell everything.If we were not able to sell anything, we had to give it away. Back then, vegetarian food was not very popular. Even when you gave it away, people wouldn't want to try it. So it was a hard three to four years. It was definitely a loss of business, but eventually we got out there, and PETA, the animal protection agency, heard about us and wanted to promote our items. And that's when we begin our journey into the vegetarian industry.
“I could have been an accountant or whatever, but I decided that I wanted to do this business with my mom, which is also another part of the family mindset.”
So you just mentioned a little bit about your family's history, can you tell me a little bit about that, and how that influences the choices of food that you make for Lily's vegan pantry?
My mom is Taiwanese and my dad is Toisanese. When they came over, they had nothing. My mom and dad tried to open a restaurant and it did very well, but my mom always wanted to go towards the vegetarian route. They didn't have access to the food that she ate in Taiwan, so we wanted to bring that Taiwanese vegetarian lifestyle into the States – that's how we made our menu choices. We definitely have the popular Taiwanese items, like roasted sea salt chicken, chicken legs, and basil three cup ginger chicken. Some of the dishes are more catered towards Taiwanese consumers. We also have many Taiwanese snacks that you can typically only purchase in Taiwan. The majority of our products are 90% from Taiwan.
Do you have any favorite foods from your childhood?
There's a tradition in Taiwan to hit up the night markets and get the Insuji, which is kind of like popcorn chicken. So that's something that we've been always trying to [remake]. At first, we wanted to carry more Taiwanese vegetarian products. But now, as we’re growing and growing, we're trying to carry more [foods from other types of Asian backgrounds].
So you just mentioned some of the foods on the market, can you describe those in a little bit more detail for people who may not be as familiar with your products?
When people think of vegan or vegetarian products they usually think of blended tofu or vegetables, or just very basic greenery. However, we carry over 200 varieties of vegan products that don't have any eggs or dairy. It definitely helps you with your cholesterol and your health overall. We have products that are made out of soy… or mushrooms, these different types of items can satisfy like a normal meat-eating consumer.
Right now, we're trying to incorporate more products for people who like to cook. These items have a more subtle flavor so you can just add and play around with the flavor. Our restaurant chefs come and add additional flavors to those. I mentioned that we carry a good variety of items. We have over 200 items right now that are vegan.We also carry products for people who are allergic to soy and gluten. We also cater to those with seafood allergies. We’re slowly noticing that vegans and vegetarians are not getting as many products nationwide when they travel, so that was our next project –to create a line that’s shelf-stable so people can bring food on their trips if they go camping, hiking, biking, or anything outdoorsy.
And I think I also mentioned that we work with various restaurants to ship their items nationwide. That’s been very well, because we're actually the first vegan store in Chinatown since 1995, and because PETA convinced us to go vegan. That’s why we rebranded three years ago as Lily's Vegan Pantry, where we do not sell any animal byproducts at all. We also created our Child Vegan campaign, in which we work with the different vegan restaurants in Chinatown to help them ship their items to customers nationwide. That's something that we're pretty proud of because it's been going well. We’re able to cater to a lot of vegans around the States to make sure that they get their New York City favorites.
“It's a long road, but it's definitely something to be proud of, and to work hard for.”
As a result of legacy businesses staying hesitant to change especially in today's globalizing world, Chinatown has historically been mostly cash businesses. Can you talk to me a little bit about what that transition for you was like and the complications involved in that?
We're a little bit different from other Chinatown stores because we got our website and social media way in the beginning. We're one of the first vegetarian businesses that shipped online, because we're able to get our website done, I think, in 2004. When we started our website, it was crappy, but it worked. And then we were able to slowly evolve from that. In terms of Chinatown cash businesses, it's hard for a lot of older generations to evolve their businesses. That's very overwhelming. I think my mom's previous restaurant business was definitely cash only. It was hard for her at first, but when it's a good restaurant, customers are definitely willing to get the cash to pay for that. But if you're asking them to upgrade into a non-cash business or take other credit cards, it definitely takes some change and a lot of help. That's why I've been promoting you guys at Welcome to Chinatown and Send Chinatown Love. I think it's a great thing you guys are doing and everywhere I go, I tell all the businesses that you’re doing a great job. The younger generations are willing to help the restaurants and the shops involved… into new territory. And I think that's very important.
What identities are important to you?
I don't think I've answered that kind of question since my college years. Ever since I became a mom, I don't think I have much of an identity anymore. I think my Asian roots are definitely very, very important. That's why I want to be in this business, because I could have done anything else. I could have been an accountant or whatever, but I decided that I wanted to do this business with my mom, which is also another part of the family mindset. I'm also very involved with the temple, as you can see. That's also a reason why I wanted to take over this business. because we've been Taoist, which is a part of Buddhism, and we've always been going to temples ever since I was a kid. I was brought up that way with my mom and my dad – everything was pretty much family.
As a mother, can you tell us a little bit about your children?
I have two boys, one is eight years old and the other is three, and they're monsters at the moment. But they're great kids and I make sure that they know where they're from. They come to work even though they're three –I bring them after school. If they have time, they will come to work. Even if it's just throwing out the garbage or filling up the water, I make sure that they know the importance of family-run businesses and what we have to do to make something of ourselves.I make sure that they know they’re Chinese as well. Because when we were kids, we went to Taiwan every year, and I just want to make sure that they have that same experience and they learn about their Chinese roots and make sure that they know their Chinese as well.
Do you have any last words to any aspiring Chinatown entrepreneurs such as yourself on starting a small business
Know that it's not going to be easy, but the journey is definitely worth it. We went from a small space to now a 2,000 square feet warehouse. So that's something that we definitely worked hard for at the end of the day, the sweat and tears are all yours. It's a long road, but it's definitely something to be proud of, and to work hard for.
Chinatown establishments like Lily’s Vegan Pantry are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support now more than ever to keep that spirit alive. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and ensure Chinatown will always be open for business. To support Chinatown organizations like Lily’s Vegan Pantry, donate to the Small Business Innovation Hub here:
