Kellie Tran is a rising senior at Gonzaga University studying philosophy and economics. She's also a budding entrepreneur who just opened her first business.
Tran celebrated the debut of Uoni Bubble Tea and Coffee late last month. For Tran, the milestone is a proud moment as she introduces her hometown to some of her favorite drinks. Among the many beverages on Uoni's "favorites" menu is a brulee latte ($5.75-$7.50) with tapioca pearls and torched sea salt foam. At Uoni, drinks are made slowly but with special care.
Initially, Tran planned to become a lawyer, but she yearned to do something with more creativity. She began dreaming of opening a boba shop near campus after hearing her friends complain that Spokane had no authentic boba tea spots. Tran's vision was to create a cafe incorporating the same vibes as a Seattle or California boba shop — a place that infused the genuine cultures of boba and Asian desserts she and her peers know and love.
After finding a convenient location next door to The Ultimate Bagel on North Hamilton, Tran took a break from school to start her business. She wasn't alone, however, recruiting her father, Ryan Tran, and mother, Tammy Nguyen, to help ensure success.
Despite coming from a Vietnamese family, in which Tran says the dynamics are traditionally not always easygoing, she and her father worked well together throughout this process. Of course, there were some challenges, such as navigating the business permitting process with her father, who doesn't speak much English. But Tran feels that she and her family grew a lot closer during the project because she was given the freedom to collaborate on the space.
Tran believes she wouldn't have come this far without going crazy if not for her mom, who offered vital emotional support. Launching a business also showed her family that not only could Tran stick to a project and finish it, but that they could trust her and her ideas.
"I hope that they take that anything is possible," Tran says. "It doesn't have to be boring and sad in order to be successful."
Now that Uoni — which roughly translates from Korean to mean "big sister" — is taking off, Tran can return to student life at Gonzaga and focus on finishing her last year as an undergrad. Meanwhile, Uoni will focus on becoming something of a reliable older sister for fellow GU students and the broader community.
Tran envisions her cafe as a welcoming space for all campus dwellers, including foreign-exchange students. A place where "even just anyone, from any kind of background, can come into and feel like they can find something that is familiar to them," she says.
Besides boba drinks, Uoni also serves traditional coffee and espresso ($5.50), as well as lemonade ($5).
The cafe's comfortable seating ranges from tables and booths to a window bar and cozy living room furniture in one corner, including bookshelves. Tran filled the shelves with titles she's collected throughout the years, a variety of genres including past textbooks from her classes (a detail evoking the vibe of an older sister's room) for customers to browse as they sip, perhaps on another Uoni bestseller, the Passion Gem ($5.75) with popping honey and lychee boba pearls ($.75).
Another element that gives Uoni a home-like feeling is its unique dessert menu of taiyaki ($3 each), Japanese cakes shaped like fish, a symbol of luck. Traditional taiyaki are either fluffy or chewy, but Tran balances the two textures. Uoni's taiyaki batter is poured into a mold and baked into a waffle-like treat. Different fillings are then squeezed inside the fish-shaped cake, such as Oreo cheesecake and sweet cream cheese, or the traditional Japanese filling of sweet red bean paste.
"It's so satisfying, especially with the cheese one, when you break it open and you could see the cheese filling, or the Nutella is just so good," Tran says. ♦
Uoni Bubble Tea • 1217 North Hamilton St. • Open Sun-Thu 10 am-8 pm and Fri-Sat 10 am-10 pm • facebook.com/Uonibubble • 509-368-9677
