Subash Yadav of Mr. Momo: Introducing Nepali Cuisine to America and the Superbowl

Discover how Subash Yadav went from pre-med student to pioneering Nepali cuisine in America. From launching a food truck to serving momo dumplings at the Super Bowl, his journey is a story of resilience and culinary innovation. Tune in to learn how Subash is bringing the bold flavors of Nepal to the forefront of U.S. food culture.

Transcript

Jillian (00:00)
Hi Subash.

Welcome to the new pantry!

Thank you for being here. Do you want to share a quick background about yourself and about Mr. Momo?

Subash Yadav (00:08)
Sure. Well, my name is Subash and I am originally from Nepal. I was born and raised there. I came to America to be a doctor as a pre-med student and fell in love. And I knew that I was probably not gonna do medicine, but I didn't know what that would be.

Jillian (00:32)
So it went from pre-med aspirations to now you have founded a food company with a really cool mission. You want to talk about the mission behind your business?

Subash Yadav (00:43)
Yeah, well, the reason, the main reason why I ⁓ started my own business is because I was honestly tired of the corporate world and how it treated me and how it treats people. It's just you're a part of a very replaceable part of this big system and not being valued for

always this itch in me of I want to do my own thing and I want to build a company that I'm proud of and the people who work in the company are proud and has that self-worth, right? So all those led to me starting my own business and I started as a food truck in Arizona. I was living in Arizona, I was working there and I quit my corporate job.

And instead of buying a house, I started a food truck. And you know, I wanted to start small, sharing things that I loved, where I'm from, from Nepal. And that was in 2019.

So that led to Everest Moma, the food truck, then that led to the restaurant, and that led to CPG, and we can go get more into detail about how those things have grown and where we are. But yeah, that's kind of been, in short, that's been my journey.

Jillian (02:01)
That's incredible. You had a Super Bowl stop along the way too.

Subash Yadav (02:04)
Yes, which was not expected. You know, the funny thing is ⁓ when I got into Super Bowl, I asked, do we need to know about football? Because I don't know anything about football.

Yeah, it was crazy. I was watching, I was at a football Super Bowl party at my friend's house and we were watching the ads and this was in 2022. We were watching the game and the ads came up and at one point I just thought, you know, how cool would it be to serve Momo at the Super Bowl? And it was an internal thought, you know?

you

weeks later I got an email if I would be interested in being a vendor at the Super Bowl and I thought what? I just watched Super Bowl and at that time I didn't even know Super Bowl was happening in Arizona the following year but

I applied and we got selected out of 600 applicants. And it was so incredible that we were the first Nepali business to ever serve at the Super Bowl. Just that alone was a moment of pride and joy. And yeah, it was awesome.

Jillian (03:19)
It's incredible,

the first Nepali restaurant to serve at the Super Bowl talk about influencing culture.

Subash Yadav (03:26)
It's

It's very encouraging to be recognized for the work we've done. It's one thing to just, I did not want to start a business because I wanted to just make a lot of money because then I would not have chosen the food industry probably. I'm sure you can didn't get into this industry to be rich. ⁓

Jillian (03:47)
That's right.

Subash Yadav (03:50)
in

this industry because it means more to us than just making those financial gains. I really, when I was in college and when I would look for places to eat or go to grocery stores to buy things, I was overwhelmed at the number of

there were, yet the lack of good choices. So when I was still in college and I was interviewing for internship with General Mills at the time, I...

I said this in interview is when they asked what do you see in 10 years I said I want to have my own company where we make good food that is better for you. You know I'd said that in 2012 and that did land me an internship at General Mills which is awesome.

And I really, the mission has always been to share good food without really recreating something new, you know? In Nepal, we have great food that are mostly plant-forward. Culturally, we eat mostly plant-forward food. And for me, I wanted to share something that brought me joy and...

that already existed and I just am bringing it out to the world. that combined with, of course I could have had a restaurant with a full menu, but I also wanted to do one thing and do it really, really well that I can scale and bring it to all of America. You know?

Jillian (05:25)
That's awesome.

Subash Yadav (05:27)
that's why I started, I do what I do. And I started the food truck with that mission to share good food that I grew up with, with people and the community. And yeah, that's that, and we're still doing that.

Jillian (05:43)
what does that mean to you in terms of that joy that your food embodies

Subash Yadav (05:47)
You know, I have always been a firm believer that good food genuinely makes you happy. You know, from within. It's not about getting that ⁓ sugar rush treat or one moment of excitement. It's when you eat good food, it makes you feel better. And when you feel better, you are just happy. And Momo...

think just happens to be one of those foods that that excitement starts from the beginning when you like no nobody is not excited about dumplings first of all and Momo's got just such a great flavor profile

It's such a comfort food that when people see the lid of the steaming basket open and they see this bountiful dumplings in the steamer, it immediately makes everyone smile. Me just talking about it makes you smile, right?

You know, it's a proven concept almost that it is the happiest food on earth. And for me it is, and lot of people will attest to it, that it is, and I want to share that joy with everyone.

Jillian (06:55)
I love it. Your energy, it's so contagious. And it's been such a joy to get to know you over the past several months. I so appreciate that about you and the food that you're putting out into the world.

Subash Yadav (07:09)
Thank you. say, we're in the business to bring joy to people. Momo just happens to be our medium, you know, to bring that joy to people.

Jillian (07:21)
Absolutely. And so you went from your food truck, to now starting a factory in Minnesota.

Subash Yadav (07:26)
well the timeline is I started the food truck in 19 and then the restaurant happened in 2020. The food truck got wildly popular the first year, which was so exciting because we were hand making these momos at home.

kitchen you know and it got really popular people loved it and they wanted it all the time so I thought well we should have a restaurant that people can come at all times so we opened this restaurant called Sherpa kitchen it was a very cute little restaurant farm-to-table concept in January of 2020

And six weeks, six or eight weeks later, we had to close down because of COVID, which was wild because we were just figuring out how to operate a restaurant. And now the world threw a COVID on us that nobody knew how to navigate around.

Unfortunately, when I went to college, the program, you know, it was about a great balance between culinary and food science. So that kind of had prepared me to navigate around several challenges in the food industry and manufacturing side. So that was very helpful.

But more than that, I think it was a tenacity of like, and the mindset of I'm in it to win it. And no challenge is going to stop me from doing what I'm going to do. So yeah, that mindset and mind frame really helped me get here.

Jillian (08:56)
That's incredible just knowing, you know, that you were gonna do it. You're gonna make it happen. No matter what.

Subash Yadav (09:01)
Yeah,

failing was not an option. it's, know, one of the minds that it's never a problem, it's a challenge.

That change in my mindset several years ago has been really helpful. When you think of a problem as a problem, then you're kind of bogged down with problem, it's not a problem. Everyone's dealing with them. It's a challenge, and there's always a solution. And I love challenges.

And another big thing is surrounding yourself with people that genuinely care about you and genuinely want you to succeed. That has been one of the main key in our growth is I have been very, very fortunate enough, including my co-founder, Lex. She's been with me. She's not here today, but she has been such

important part in just pushing me and problem solving and also sharing the same mindset of we can figure it out you know we can do this with that mindset and yeah six years later we are here in Minnesota

Jillian (10:07)
you actually ended up opening your own factory here in Minnesota.

Subash Yadav (10:10)
That is correct. And again, going back to just finding people who really believe in you, we could have never afford to build the factory that we have. We could only dream of, which we did. We dreamed of having our own.

kitchen. know, and when we were in Arizona, we were working out of a thousand square foot space, which was the restaurant space that we had leased. We had the lease for five years. So we had converted our restaurant into a manufacturing kitchen with tiny freezer, which was four by four freezer, you know. And we did...

as much as we could out of there. And we caught the attention of an investor here in Minnesota. He knew what we were doing and he offered to build us a manufacturing facility here in Minnesota, 6,000 square foot space. So it was kind of a no brainer, know, when somebody offers you that kind of opportunity.

to be able to scale to the dream and the vision that you had, what do you do? You pack up your lives in a food truck and a van and you move across the country.

Jillian (11:20)
that is so exciting. And you went from, folding 90 momos by hand in two hours, to producing 7,000 in that same timeframe with the machine. that accurate?

Subash Yadav (11:33)
It is. So ⁓ when we started, we were doing handmade, you know, because it was a startup. We were testing the concept. When I the food truck, we had a few other things as well on the menu. Because when I started the food truck, we were the first Nepali food truck in Arizona.

and the only place you could get Momo in Phoenix, you know? And my table, my dining table had warped from constantly wiping and sanitizing the table and constantly working on that. And we were making, if we were not in the food truck, we were making, hand making Momo all the time. And that was the fastest we could do. And...

When we got into the Super Bowl, was no way we could have kept up with that kind of volume by hand making, Momo. Especially because we were still living in COVID time and it was so hard to find people to work. And to train people to do this meticulously handmade product.

So we were able to find this, we met with this company that specializes in making dumplings only. That's what they do. This company makes machines for dumplings. So we worked with them for a little bit to get them and ordered a machine that would do exactly what we needed. And yeah.

It was magical to see that happen. We couldn't believe it and only that way we were able to scale.

Jillian (13:10)
so first Nepali restaurant in Arizona, then also first Nepali food served at the Super Bowl. What was the response like to people trying this food for the very first time?

Subash Yadav (13:23)
Yeah, you know, it was incredible. was, it's for.

Because we are in this industry, we always think it's dumplings. Like everybody knows what it is. And yet, every day, every time we do a pop-up event or we are at a festival or at the farmer's market, we see so many people that have never tried dumplings in their lives, let alone Momo being from Nepal. They don't know what a Momo is.

And so that has been a learning experience for us is wow, there's so much more opportunity to just educate people itself, right? But when we were at the Super Bowl,

Before that, I was quite nervous, honestly, because it's football. It's about wings and hot dogs and burgers and just a classic American food that is...

what do you call it, tailgate foods, right? And we're bringing something completely different. But to see people enjoy that and really come back to us and be like, wow, that was so amazing. It's like something I've never had in my life. And to get that kind of response at the Super Bowl was really incredible and also affirming that we're doing the right thing.

you know, so that gave us that reassurance that no, we've got to keep going. We've got to keep educating people. We've got to keep ⁓ bringing Momo to more people. Everybody needs a Momo.

Jillian (15:02)
What do you wish people knew more about when it comes to momos?

Subash Yadav (15:05)
I think the most important thing is good food can be healthy. And I think that has changed over the last decade, think. Initially when I came to America, when you told people about healthy food, most people just thought it's either just bland food.

with not a lot of flavor or these are thought it was salads, know, and vegetables and steamed food could never be tasty and crave-worthy, you know, but that's not true. Good healthy food can be delicious and it can be crave-worthy.

and it can be easily accessible and it can be easy to prepare at home. It can be all those things. there's a lot, I want people to know that and it's good to see that. It's good to see people are more open-minded nowadays than ever before.

people are more open to trying foods that are from different cultures. So we're not making soy sages or highly processed vegetarian or vegan foods. They already exist, all these great food already exist in different cultures. We just need to.

illuminate it and bring it in front of people and educate people. know, so it's already happening and I just want, we want to do more of it.

Jillian (16:37)
I'm so excited for you. And I'm so excited to see your continued growth. you're working to champion joy, right? And the happiest food kind of on earth. How do you keep your energy up, And your joy up?

on a day-to-day basis. What does that look like for you as the founder of the company?

Subash Yadav (16:55)
There are days that I question my sanity, you know. As founders, think there are days, obviously it's constant reminder to yourself why you're doing what you're

like we talked about earlier is we're not in this to become rich. We're in this to make our dent in the universe as well. We want to change the way people eat because it's important to us. And it's not...

It's not a big thing. We can all make that impact in our own ways. We don't have to put people on Mars. It starts with food. It starts with you and wellness. So constantly remind yourself, is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

is one thing. And a little bit of delusion-ness, I think, is no, it's possible. We can make this work, you know, even though everything is crumbling around us. It's like, no, we can figure it out. And also that tenacity is a perseverance, you're going to call it, or tenacity, just like...

It's if others can figure it out. This is not rocket science. We're not doing brain surgery surgery. We're just serving good food to people and we can do it, you know. And yeah, it's a constant reminder. Honestly, for me.

Jillian (18:15)
What would you tell someone who is thinking about taking that first step tomorrow and starting, a venture of their own?

Subash Yadav (18:23)
When somebody reaches out to me saying they want to start their own food business, the first thing I tell them is absolutely don't do it. Especially if you're going in to make money. It is the wrong industry to be in, so don't do it is my first advice. And then I ask them why they're doing it after that.

If I hear that there is passion involved in it and genuine...

If there's genuine passion involved in it and they have a mission, if it's a mission-driven goal, I tell them, just be prepared to face some of the hardest days that you could not even dream of that you will endure during this process of building your business.

tenacity and mindset of not giving up for certain amount of time. Set goals of one year, two year, no matter what.

your building burns down and you lose everything, you're going to give yourself two years and keep at it, you know? And surround yourself with people who genuinely love and care for you and who lifts your spirit because those people are your...

Angels who are going to help you survive those difficult times, you know It's so so important to do that

Jillian (19:50)
That's great advice. As you're looking towards the future, what do hope the future holds for you and Mr. Momo?

Subash Yadav (19:56)
We want to continue our mission of sharing this happiest food on earth with everybody in America. we want to make sure, one of the things we really want to do is get our momos in schools. On my vision board, have something called Momo Monday.

in schools because on Sundays I want the kids to be excited about going to school because there's going to be Momo in the cafeteria and I want them to start their week excited you know and also I want better food available for our children and that's one of the things I really want to work on and yeah just put momos on the map.

I'm not trying to change the food system here. People make their choices, however, and eating whatever they do, but I want to make sure there are better options available and we want to be part of that change.

Jillian (20:55)
I just have to say you are making such a huge difference in the food system and it's really exciting to watch.

Subash Yadav (21:04)
Thank you. Yeah, and I don't know if I told you, but this year we are doing sampling at the Minnesota State Fair, which has been so exciting. Thousands and thousands of people are there and

Minnesota State Fair is known for their fried food variety. And here we are challenging the status quo by bringing steamed food to the fair, you know. And we have gotten such great response. People are so excited to see dumplings first of all, and that's not fried, it's steamed. And yeah, I love seeing that, seeing the interest of people.

the joy and excitement when they try the Momo and they're like my god this is so great I wish we would have this as one of the food options at the State Fair so really hoping that we can bring Momo to the Minnesota State Fair at some point in the future

Jillian (22:01)
That would be really exciting.

Subash Yadav (22:02)
Yeah, we're in this industry in CPG world, our food industry, if you will. And right now we're working in this, working to grow as a packaged product where we can distribute our Momo to grocery stores and wholesale to restaurants.

And it seems like we've made it, right, from outside. But every day is a challenge in its own way, whether it's financial challenges or systemic or dealing with just logistical challenges. And even though we have

internet and we have chat gbt and we have people around us we're constantly trying to figure out how to get out of those weeds and how to grow and how to continue our mission of bringing this good food to people and

Yeah, it's exciting. You know, there's no path without challenges because it wouldn't be exciting if it wasn't challenging, you know, but yeah, I love being part of this Minnesota food group. Naturally, Minnesota has been such a great platform and

getting to know you and several other food business owners have been so great and I'm very grateful for it. And yeah, I hope we can continue these kind of conversation to share our story and our challenges and keep growing.

Jillian (23:28)
I like that. I don't think you could be a trailblazer unless you, conquer those challenges.

Subash Yadav (23:33)
Absolutely. you know, especially at our age now, we're kind of, you know, I'm almost 40. And when you think about it, you. It's just challenges like sometimes you question, is this where I want it to be? You know, when I 10, 15 years ago, you.

sure you were like when I'm at this age you'd be settled and retirement and all of that and figured out whereas we're not there we're still figuring it out and how to get there but also reflecting you know those challenges are always going to be there we're always going to set higher expectations and standards for ourselves but also reflecting on how far we've come

things we've accomplished in the last few years, how many lives we've touched, and how many people we've met who have helped us.

get where we are today. Just those things are so important, honestly, to remind ourselves and to keep the sanity. It's like, okay, I am in many ways living my dream, right? But there's more to grow, more to see, more to explore. And just enjoying the journey and the process of building. Yeah.

Jillian (24:50)
for our listeners. How can they find you, support you and follow your journey?

Subash Yadav (24:55)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, our website is a great place to start. It's www.mr-momo.com. Or if you just Google Mr. Momo and look for the orange dumpling icon.

That is us. People can follow our journey and everyday things that we do on our Instagram. We're fairly active on our Instagram. It's MrMomo underscore official. That is the best way to keep in touch with us and see what we're doing, all the crazy things we do all the time. And...

People can order our product on our website right now and our website also lists all the places that we distribute our Momo and the list is growing please keep checking our website, follow us on Instagram, say hi when you see us at the booth or at a farmer's market anywhere, come say hi. And we just love meeting our fellow Momotarians.

Jillian (25:49)
That's incredible. Sivash, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate you being here.

Subash Yadav (25:54)
Thank you. Thank you for having me and thank you for letting us share, letting me share our journey. It's great.