ABOUT US

Our Beginnings

One late afternoon in February 2009, Thao was puttering around her sunny house in Sydney when she got a call from Karen. “I know what our business will be!  Let’s make healthy Pho noodles using your grandparents’ recipe”, Karen said. 

That’s how the Star Anise Foods adventure started: 
Two friends with an idea.

We had met 4 years earlier while hiking in Hong Kong, and soon after had started talking about starting a business.  The years of pursuing other interests on opposite sides of the planet had not killed that dream.

The idea was perfect for us! We love making and sharing food with others. We love Asian noodles, especially Pho noodles.  We hadn’t found that ‘special’, tasty healthy noodle that we craved.  So, why not create one ourselves and share it with the world?

In June 2009, we landed in Saigon, Vietnam to further define our company’s vision and to develop our product line.



We rented 2 connecting rooms on a 3rd floor of a home in District 3 in the heart of Saigon. We lived, breathed and talked Vietnamese pho noodles and spices from the moment we woke up until the wee hours.  We got a lot of opposition: No you can’t do it! Absolutely not, are you nuts? No it’s not possible. Karen called it the “No, no, no” song. But we persisted, we kept asking questions, we kept hassling people, we kept finding new ways to fulfill our vision. And finally we got what we wanted – an all-natural, flavorful Pho noodles soup that we absolutely love and that anyone can make.

We’re so proud of the delicious healthy noodles we’ve created.  We’re both seriously addicted to the stuff! We love that everyone else who has tasted our noodles love them, from Karen’s neighbor in San Francisco who had never even heard of Pho to Thao’s family who have been passing down the secrets of making Pho for three generations.

And now we are excited to share our pho noodles with you! Please look for Star Anise Foods’ products, Happy Pho and Vietnamese Brown Rice Noodles,  in your local stores. We would love to hear what you think about our pho noodles. Please drop us a line here.

Do you want to buy our products? CLICK HERE