Key Points
- In the decades following the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, thousands of Vietnamese moved to Australia, many as refugees.
- Bao Hoang, founder of Roll’d restaurants, says his parents’ sacrifices inspired him to make a mark in their new home.
- For Daniel Hoang, the son of refugees, joining his family's business helped him reconnect with his heritage.
Bao Hoang's parents and two older brothers spent nine days at sea followed by six months in a Thai refugee camp.
Then, when the chance of resettlement arrived, his mother Phien selected Australia over the United States.
According to Bao, the founder and CEO of the Roll'd Vietnamese restaurant chain, this decision was inspired by a kind Australian his mum had encountered in her home village in southeast Vietnam.
Fifty years ago, on 30 April 1975, the army of the communist North Vietnamese captured Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City), the capital of South Vietnam, marking the end of the Vietnam War.
Bao’s mum and dad were among more than 80,000 Vietnamese people who moved to Australia in the decade following, many as refugees.
Desperate South Vietnamese clamber aboard barges in the port of Saigon in an attempt to escape from advancing North Vietnamese troops on the day of the Fall of Saigon that ended the Vietnam War. Credit: Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images
Bao, who was born in Australia in 1982, remembers his parents working from 6am to midnight sewing garments to ensure he and his siblings were fed.
“The sacrifices they made really shaped a lot of what we went through as we grew up in Australia, not having too much, having to work very, very hard to put food on the table and then obviously to give us and the rest of the kids an education,” he told SBS Vietnamese.
Sharing Vietnamese food with Australia
In May 2012, Bao co-founded Roll’d, a Vietnamese fast-food chain inspired by the home-cooked meals his mother would prepare for the family every week.
However, he said his parents had initially wanted him to pursue dentistry, believing that a stable, respected career would guarantee happiness and success.
Instead, he graduated as a physiotherapist from the University of Melbourne, which led him to being involved in allied health franchises and finding his passion in business.
Bao Hoang's mother and father arrived in Australia in the 1970s. Credit: Supplied/Angela Hoang
At the time of launching Roll'd, he said Vietnamese food was still unfamiliar to many Australians, with less than 10 percent of the population having tried it, according to his market research in 2013.
Today, Roll’d has 130 stores nationwide, with a group turnover of more than $150 million, and awareness of Vietnamese dishes like pho, banh mi and rice paper rolls has never been greater.
The family business celebrating their 100th store. Credit: Supplied/Angela Hoang
But family remains at the heart of his personal and professional life, whether it's weekly dinners or celebrating Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year).
The central part to what I see as Vietnamese culture is always around food and family, and that's what we always just try to pass down to our kids all day, every day.Bao Hoang, founder and CEO of Roll'd
Bao highlighted the role of his mother, the family cook who is the last to sit at the dining table, and the first to leave and clean up.
Bao Hoang, pictured with his mother Phien, says 'food is everything to our family'. Credit: Supplied/Angela Hoang
When he visits Vietnam now, Bao said he feels "immense pride" at the resilience shown by a country that had undergone a major civil war 50 years ago.
Fleeing a country for freedom
Daniel Hoang, who works for his family's logistics company, is similarly driven by his parents' sacrifice.
His father was only 17 when he made his first attempt to escape Vietnam.
Born and raised in Da Nang, Dinh Hoang was the son of a South Vietnamese soldier.
Dinh Hoang, Hong Kong (1991). Credit: Supplied/Daniel Hoang
“Not having any freedom essentially drove him to want to leave,” Daniel shared.
That first attempt, by boat, ended in arrest and a short jail sentence, being released on account of being a minor. Years later, at age 24, his father tried again, this time succeeding, with the help of a Chinese American who donated a boat to stranded refugees.
He landed in a Hong Kong refugee camp, where he met Daniel's mother, Lan To.
Lan grew up in Saigon and saw her childhood unravel as classmates disappeared, fleeing Vietnam one by one. By grade five, her class had shrunk from 60 to just 15. She eventually left school herself to help her family survive, selling car parts and scrap.
“She would always repeat this one line,” Daniel said. “Hồi lúc đó quá khổ (it was so hard back then).”
Daniel's mother and father, Lan To (left) and Dinh Hoang (right), at a refugee camp in Hong Kong (1991). Credit: Supplied/Daniel Hoang
There, she met Dinh. Together, they spent time in a refugee camp in the Philippines before settling in Australia in 1993, months before Daniel’s eldest brother was born.
From sewing machines to semi-trailers
Like many refugees, Daniel said his parents arrived in Australia with next to nothing. They took up garment work, sewing clothes from home machines humming day and night.
Later, his father worked as an electrician and handyman, eventually becoming a truck driver. But he didn’t stop there.
“He didn’t want to work for another boss, he wanted to work for himself,” Daniel said.
In 2016, with the help of his children, Dinh launched Core Logistics, a container delivery service. Starting with just a handful of contacts, he began transporting full-load containers from Melbourne’s ports to clients across the city.
Daniel didn’t join the family business right away, uncertain of its longevity, but spent six years studying a double degree in engineering and worked in the field for three more.
Most kids back then were either studying to be lawyers, doctors or engineers. Those were the three golden careers for Vietnamese kids growing up.Daniel Hoang, Core Logistics
But something was missing.
Dissatisfied with the long hours and below expected pay-scale, Daniel gave up his engineering career and decided to join the family business.
What he found was not just a job, but a deeper connection to his family and heritage.
“It’s been such a rewarding journey to reconnect with family in a different way,” he reflected. “It made us closer.”
The spirit of resilience
Working alongside his siblings and father, Daniel has taken on more responsibility, acquiring new clients, managing operations and navigating the unpredictable world of logistics from their offices in Laverton North.
Daniel said he sees that same spirit in many Vietnamese migrants: the willingness to work hard, take risks and figure things out on the job.
“They get their heads down and work hard at it, they don’t have a plan and they try their best,” he said.
Daniel Hoang (front left) with his siblings Wesley (far left), James (middle) and Allen Hoang (front right) at the family office. Credit: Core Logistics Group
“There's this big disconnect between my understanding and feelings towards it versus what my parents would have. But I just find it so amazing to see the amount of resilience and courage it took my parents to leave Vietnam at such a young age, too,” he said.
A Vietcong guard in May, 1975, in front of the Presidential Palace shortly after the Fall of Saigon. Credit: Jean-Claude LABBE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
“The 50th anniversary of national reunification presents an opportunity for national reconciliation — a day to heal the wounds of the past,” a spokesperson from the Vietnamese Embassy in Canberra said in a lengthy statement provided to SBS Vietnamese.
They said the country “has implemented various policies to facilitate connections between the Vietnamese diaspora and their homeland, such as legislation regarding land, real estate, investment, ID cards, and visa exemptions and will continue to promote these initiatives.”
