Bobalicious Still Going Strong Through Challenges, With the Help of Loyal Customers

I stopped into Bobalicious, 521 Highway 1 W, this weekend to talk with owner Lia Lan Phan Esparza after I noticed she had announced she first would be reducing seating, then restoring some of her seating and eliminating delivery, at the Vietnamese restaurant on the Bobalicious Facebook pages.

Was everything going alright? I asked her.

Indeed it was, she replied, almost too good.

Except for the staffing.

Workers with consistent hours can be hard to find in a college town, she said, and she hit a period of transition where she had to manage things with a limited number of employees.

"The traffic was very consistent, but it just got so busy with sit down customers and deliveries with us not having a full staff," she said. "That's the reason why I reduced my seatings."

Through the end of March and the beginning of April, Esparza reduced the number of seats at the Vietnamese restaurant, which shares a building with a gas station. She said she did this to encourage carry out and delivery orders instead of sit down diners, all the while trying to hire replacements for the employees who had left.

But through the trying few weeks, her loyal regulars kept coming-- many of the same people who have her little Vietnamese restaurant going through ups and downs for two years now.

"They were supportive, our regular customers were so supportive," Esparza said. "I just cannot thank them enough."

Now, with a few more employees, Esparza has opened dining seating back up, but at the moment will not be offering delivery so she can instead focus on putting time into what keeps her regulars coming back: the food.

"Vietnamese food does take time and everything is made freshly here. Our regular customers realize that this isn't McDonald's, this isn't a fast food restaurant, even though we're connected to a gas station," she said. "Once you eat it you can tell that it's freshly made with pride."

The full menu featuring pho, Vietnamese subs, and a wide selection of boba (bubble) tea has remained the same. Free wireless Internet is also still available.

This is the same menu that she has had since she made a switch from frozen yogurt and bubble tea to bubble tea and a Vietnamese lunch and dinner menu, again at the request at her fan base.

Esparza said now that this transition period is over she hopes to keep this current configuration the way it is now for awhile, and to keep trying to please her regular customers while trying to attract some new fans.

"Like I said, I can't do it without the customers. They've been very good to us, and we're trying to do the same for them," Esparza said.

Read my previous story on Bobalicious from over a year ago when she switched to her current menu: Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant Switches from Frozen Yogurt to Pho