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(코리아타운뉴스) Learning Business on the Streets

Julie and Jackie Kim’s food truck Ta Bom

A twin sister from Brazil
immigrated to L.A. at just 2

started business with mother
after dropping out of college

Food truck has been a hit with
its healthy Brazilian meals



“Important to never give up
when you finding directions”



Twin sisters Julie and Jackie Kim, both 30, almost makes one wonder if they are actresses as both of them are stunningly beautiful. Maybe it was their looks that resembles a Barbie doll. This writer worried if the sisters would be too standoffish, but once the conversation kicked off, they seemed immensely open minded and down to earth. The Korea Daily met with the sisters, who began as standout students in school and went on to running their food truck business Ta Bom (tabomtruck.com) over the last seven years. Their story also contained a serious concern and projection as businesspeople in the 21st century.

#Growing up as the center of envy
Dong-jun Kim, the sisters’ 60-year-old father, immigrated to Brazil at age 19 and married model and actress Elsie Kim. They now have three children between them. The family moved to the U.S. when the twin sisters were just 2 and lived in a one bedroom Koreatown apartment with their uncle and grandparents. That is how the two daughters have such a strong bond with their grandmother Ok-hwa kim, who is now 85.
“Our grandma was a great cook,” said Julie. “We made her own kimchi and dumplings. That’s probably why we loved Korean food so much as children.”
However, the two sisters do not just have great memories of the Korean-American community.
“We were hurt by the perception that we look differently from other Korean kids,” said Jackie. “People stared at us whenever we went to the Korean market. Some Korean kids made fun of us by calling us jjambbong.”
To avoid mockery, both Jackie and Julie purposely stayed away from Koreatown. The person who made them open up was their father.
“During high school, dad brought us a Korean hip-hop album,” Jackie said. “That’s how we began to really like K-pop. We eventually fell in love with Korean dramas and culture in general.”
The two graduated from John Burroughs Middle School before attending a private school in Torrance. They have always been standout students. Jackie was the president of the entire student body while Julie also served as the leader of her own grade.
#Journey to becoming street smart
After graduating from high school in 2004, Julie majored in architecture at American InterContinental University, while Jackie set a goal to attend medical school as she began studying biology at Loyola Marymount University. During her sophomore year, Jackie worked as a part-time employee at a big law firm, but she did so well that she was promoted to a more responsible role after just a year.
“My pay at the time was equivalent to many entry level earnings for college graduates,” said Jackie. “That was a lot for a sophomore in college. The work also suit me really well and I started wondering if a college diploma really meant anything to me.”
So Jackie gave up on school during her junior year. At the same time, Julie was also working for the same firm as she lost interest in schoolwork. They were firm when asked if they ever regret their decision to quit school during college.
“The ultimate purpose of going to college is to get a job,” Jackie said. “I already had a job and had no passion for my college education. Under those circumstances, I figured it was a waste of time and money to spent thousands of hundreds of dollars on school. I concluded that I don’t necessarily have to follow where everyone else was going.”
Jackie and Julie decided to launch their own business in 2010 when their mother Elsie was laid off from her work. For their mother, the two founded the Ta Bom food struck. The business was inspired by Elsie who once worked as a Brazilian food caterer. Ta Bom became the first Brazilian-themed food truck in L.A. The name means “good” in Portuguese. Jackie and Julie worked fulltime at the law firm during the day and then teamed up with their mother at night to run the food truck. The food truck business would open at 8 p.m. and go on until 3 a.m., but that is how the sisters lived for four years while getting just three to four hours of sleep every night.
The food truck began to take off through word of mouth and hit its peak thanks to the World Cup in 2014 that was held in Brazil. Since then, Jackie and Julie left the law firm and gave 100 percent of their efforts into the food truck business.
#The growth of Ta Bom
At first, the daily revenue for Ta Bom was only around $200 to $300, but it is now $600 to $1,000. When there are big orders in a day, the figure shoots up to $1,500 to $2,000. In just seven years, Ta Bom essentially grew its business by 10 times. Ta Bom’s biggest selling point is its ability to provide “comfort food” with organic ingredients. After establishing an online system to take orders two years ago, Ta Bom’s tendency to tailor its business model to the customers has also played a big part. Catering orders have been pouring in for Ta Bom with the list of customers including the likes of Nike, BMW, MTV, YouTube and Universal Studios. Jackie and Julie are now focusing on expanding their business. They plan on purchasing another truck to expand to Orange County as well as opening a dessert café near UCLA. That is not all. They launched a kids clothing line Juju Apparel (jujuapparel.co), which now uses Amazon as its main distributor. Jackie and Julie has been starting their day at 8 a.m. and usually go to bed around 2 a.m. over the last seven years.
“To survive in today’s business environment, you have to diversify your sources,” Jackie said. “That is why we’re trying different businesses. That doesn’t mean we’re afraid of failing. There’s a way as long as you never give up.”
It seemed like the sisters finally became street smart that they went after at the expense of college education. Their asset is deeper and stronger as it is something they obtained by exploring new territories. They are realizing their dreams as young entrepreneurs by paving their own way, rather than taking the footsteps that have already been left by others.

CAPTION: Mother and two sisters posing in front of the Ta Bom food truck that is preparing for a catering order. From the left; Jackie, Elsie and Julie.



By Joohyun Yi



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