Everyone Around the Table

Meet Thoa Nguyen, baker and owner of Asian-French inspired Bánh & Butter Bakery Café in Aurora, Colorado. She is a contestant on the “Holiday Baking Championship” in 2023. Nguyen’s restaurant serves a variety of sandwiches, sweet and savory pastries, mille-crepe cakes, sandwiches, desserts, coffee, milk teas and specialty drinks. We had the opportunity to talk to Nguyen about her experience on the show.

Although some people apply for the opportunity to be on a Food Network competitive cooking show, sometimes, they reach out to potential contestants. That was the case for Thoa Nguyen who had posted a photo on Instagram of a Yule Log which is a traditional and rather complicated cake shaped and decorated to look like a log. Someone from Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship” show saw the post and called the bakery Nguyen owns, asking to speak to the baker who made that cake.

E.A.T.: When you first got word that you’d been accepted as a contestant on the show, how did you feel?
Thoa Nguyen: I was really skeptical. I didn’t have as much of a really great reaction as I had hoped. Two years prior to all of this, I had an opportunity to be on another competitive cooking show. And out of nowhere, they sent me home after flying me out and gave me no reason as to why they were sending me home without getting to compete. And so that was very heartbreaking. I didn’t even get a chance to really show myself. So, I had my guard up.

I was skeptical of getting this and wondering “oh my gosh, is this going to happen again? Am I, like, just a replacement?” But when they told me that it’s a for sure thing, I had to let it soak in for a bit. And then finally, I just got really excited that this was truly happening.

E.A.T.: Once you were there, what was the experience like?
TN: There are a lot of interviews so that they get to know who you are so that they get to really embrace your story. And then it’s nerve wracking because you have to really put in a lot of time for those interviews which can be very time-consuming and tiring. But then you go into the kitchen and you have to execute. And that was an everyday step – you do their interview. You compete. You continue to do interviews as you’re baking. And then finally you do more interviews of how you felt about the competition. It’s all about really trying to keep your storyline and why you did what you did and why you picked the flavors and why you chose to bake this. Ultimately, they’re just trying to really tell your story the whole time.

E.A.T.: Why is that? Why are they so intent on telling your story versus just focusing on what you make?
TN: I think it’s great to have a story that viewers can really relate to. They know it’s a holiday show. It’s a family friendly show. And for people to be able to relate with each contestant, it makes you feel a connection with each one, which then makes it much more nerve wracking, and also much more exciting, when you feel like there’s some type of connection with someone you’re watching on TV.

E.A.T.: While you’re in the competition, do you have time off?
TN: We do. It kind of depends on the judges whether they have any obligations because your schedule typically revolves around theirs. For instance, if they had to be at a food convention or something, then that would give us a longer weekend off. Otherwise, there are just breaks in between the shows as well.

E.A.T.: Since you filmed this last spring, was it hard to put your mind in holiday mode when tulips were popping up?
TN: No, not at all. When you’re on the set, you know that it’s the Food Network Holiday Baking Championship. They have the set designed to be very holiday and very Christmassy. And when you get into that kitchen, you just feel like you’re right in holiday time.

E.A.T.: What was your range of emotions through all of this?
TN: It was fun for the most part. The times when it becomes very stressful are when there’s a time crunch and then you start to feel all the pressure of the time, counting down. You’re thinking “how am I going to execute this? Is this product going to be done?” I felt very nervous, which you can see in the first episode. I was very nervous because I started running out of time.

I think one of the hardest things is trying to come up with a flavor profile and come up with a design within very little time. Usually you get to plan these things well in advance and so with this, you’re just thinking on the fly and it makes it that much more terrifying.

Because you don’t want to be the first to be sent home, let alone that you just don’t want to be sent home at all, you really want to show people what you can do and that you’re in it to win it. It’s $25,000 on the line. So, for me, that’s life-changing and I’d hate to lose out on that opportunity. The pressure is real going into this. It’s tons and tons of emotions including terrified and nervous. You’re stressed. But then the friends that I made, the contestants, they’re all really great friends. We’re very supportive of each other. Although we’re competing with each other, we support each other. We try to get each other refocused and remind each other why we’re there. It gets you back into a mode of knowing you’ve done this for years, you can do this. So then you get a little bit of confidence and then, once that confidence comes, you start to have fun. I think the episodes that I have the most fun are probably the ones that I do better.

E.A.T.: When there’s so much at stake and so much pressure, how are you able to be friends with these people who you are competing with for hours every day?
TN: I think it’s easy to be friends with them because, for one, they’re just really amazing people. They’re people you’ll be spending most of your time with while you’re away from family and friends, you know? And so it’s like your outlet to get some affirmation from people who understand and have the same interests as you. We’re all bakers and that’s something we all share together. We have the same goal. At the end of the day, depending on just the type of person you are, I lead with empathy and for me, I’d rather know that I was a good competitor and someone who had empathy throughout this whole thing rather than pushing people out of my way just to get to the very end.

E.A.T.: Regardless of the results, what do you hope will be the benefits of you having gone through this, for you, personally, for your bakery, and for your long-term professional life?
TN: I’d like this to really help my business have a very secure customer base. Because of how community-oriented I am, I put myself in a situation to be very vulnerable in front of a national television audience, even to be able to help improve this community. I also really want to secure the jobs that I have laid out for my team. I have a fantastic team. The ultimate goal for doing all this was really to have a very successful business so that my team can have a security job and livelihood.

E.A.T.: What about you, personally? What has this done for you and who you are, inside?
TN: I have more confidence in myself. I think I’ve always questioned everything I’ve done. I don’t always know if I’ve made the right decisions. And I think that, for me personally, taking on something like this and being on the show has really helped me grow my self-confidence. It makes me feel like, as long as I really put myself out there, I’ll be able to continue my dreams. And the dream still means being a business owner. But I like to also grow my position as a chef consultant. I’d like to be able to help small businesses in whatever ways I can, whether its menu development or with business planning and concept design. I really want to grow into that field as I continue to still be a business owner of Banh & Butter.

E.A.T.: The fact that you had to think on the fly so much during the competition, has that changed your approach to the day-to-day of the bakery?
TN: It has because I’m constantly feeling innovative. Every time an idea comes, I try to execute it. But the show has really impacted my way of trying to not go overboard with all of my innovations. Sometimes simple is better.

Watch Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network to see how far Nguyen gets in the competition! New episodes air Mondays at 8/7c or stream it on Max. Find out more about the show at https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/holiday-baking-championship

Bánh & Butter Bakery and Café is located at 9935 East Colfax Avenue in Aurora. The website is: https://www.banhandbutter.com/.

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