CNN Link
“Tee Tran, the owner of Vietnamese restaurant Monster Pho in Oakland, California, knows the struggle all too well. He was one of the thousands of Vietnamese boat people, eventually reaching California in 1989, where his mother worked five jobs and used SNAP benefits to keep food on the table. Now he’s decided to give away free meals to children receiving help through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and a discount for their parents.”

Huff Post
“It’s hard to keep track of all the ways Monster Pho owner Tee Tran has helped his community in Oakland, California. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his restaurant donated almost 20,000 meals through World Central Kitchen, gave free coffee to health care workers and free produce to anyone in need, offered customer discounts for donated goods, held a backpack drive and started a yearly event giving free pho to anyone wanting a hot meal — no questions asked. In this edition of Voices in Food, Tran shares in his own words how his life as a Vietnamese refugee — and more pointedly, how his mom — has inspired his passion for helping others, even when he was struggling himself. “

KQED Link
“Tee Tran made one of the most consequential decisions of his cooking career: He decided that his Oakland restaurant, Monster Phở, would give away its phở for free. For one day, anyway, Tran would serve free phở to regular customers, houseless folks, foodies, people who’d lost their jobs or were otherwise down on their luck, or anyone else whose day might be brightened by a free hot meal. No questions asked.”

EATER Link
“The more he thought about it, the more Tran felt like the only thing to do was give the money away — or, more specifically, to use the entire $25,000 to serve free pho to anyone who needed a hot meal. So, on the first day of the new year, he announced the new initiative on Instagram, with the hashtag #phoforthepeople: “Free pho. Anyone. Anytime. Any day. Any location. No questions asked.”"

NY Times Link
“For Tee Tran, the golden rule is not just an aspiration. It’s a way of life that he has tried to embody, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Tran, the owner of Monster Pho restaurants in Oakland and Emeryville, Calif., said his mother, Tina Le, instilled the rule in her children: Treat people how you want to be treated.

“You see somebody who needs help, you just do it,” he said. “It’s not, ‘What do I get out of it?’””

Berkeley Side Link
“With the shelter-in-place order extended, Bay Area restaurant owners are preparing for another month of takeout-only service. Although Tee Tran, the 34-year old owner of local Vietnamese restaurant Monster Pho, has only been bringing in about a fraction of his usual revenue, he views this crisis as an opportunity to repay the community and country where he found a home.”

VNExpress Link
“Trong bối cảnh hàng triệu người Mỹ bị ảnh hưởng do Chương trình Hỗ trợ Dinh dưỡng Bổ sung (SNAP), hay còn gọi là tem phiếu thực phẩm, đình trệ từ ngày 1/11 vì hết ngân sách, Tran Huu Thuyen, chủ nhà hàng Việt Nam Monster Pho ở Oakland, California, đã quyết định tặng bữa ăn miễn phí cho trẻ em thuộc diện nhận trợ cấp, đồng thời giảm giá cho cha mẹ các em.”

AsAmNews Link
“Millions of Americans are set to lose access to their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as the government shutdown drags on. One Pho restaurant in Oakland, California, is helping keep its community fed.

Monster Phở is one of several Bay Area restaurants offering free meals for children who rely on the SNAP program. Parents will also receive 25% off their meals. 

“Sometimes we don’t know what we can do, and maybe we think that it has to be something big,” Tee Tran, owner of Monster Phở, said in an interview with AsAmNews. “But just a little bit from everybody, it goes a long way.”

Tran said he was inspired when he saw Tony’s Pizza in San Jose offering to help feed their community. It reminded him of a time when his family needed food assistance and support.”