Bun Mee’s menu includes a variety of Vietnamese-inspired sandwiches, like its ribeye steak dip with pho broth as its au jus.
From hiking the Dolomite mountains in Italy to connecting with her heritage in Vietnam to exploring the national parks of the United States, Denise Tran has seen a lot of what the world offers. As an avid hiker and traveler, Tran connects with different cultures through food and nature.
After her father died, she traveled to Vietnam in 2008. “It was through that journey of taking his ashes back to Vietnam and reconnecting to my homeland that I left when I was a baby,” Tran said. Her family moved to the U.S. when she was a toddler, so the country felt unfamiliar to her, she said.
Tran learned about Vietnamese street foods from local vendors, which inspired her to bring those flavors—the bahn mi sandwich specifically—to San Francisco. She left her career as an attorney behind to start Bun Mee, a play on the name of the sandwich.
The recipes are inspired by her Vietnam travels and the food her mother—“who’s an amazing cook”—made for her growing up. “It felt like a full-circle moment to be able to do that,” she said.
Bahn mi is a Vietnamese baguette, typically with meat, vegetables (often pickled), mayonnaise or chili spreads. But there is a lot of room for customization. Bun Mee’s classic bahn mi has grilled pork, pate, vegetables and garlic mayo. It also serves a ribeye steak dip, which comes with a pho broth for dipping. Other staples include salt and pepper fries, chicken wings, Vietnamese coffee and rice bowls.
Some of the menu options come from “Mama Tran,” like the crispy egg rolls or chicken pho.
Bun Mee has four corporate stores in San Francisco, two of which are in airports, and it recently started franchising.
The menu’s evolved since its first store opened in 2011. Its sardine sandwich, while popular in Vietnam, was not so beloved in California. “When we first opened, we had a lot of … very distinctive Vietnamese flavor profiles and sandwiches that I think our customers are unfamiliar with,” Tran said. “Although I really enjoyed them, they were not big hits.”
Denise Tran
Bun Mee put an emphasis on its salads too, to cater to those looking for other options. “We really wanted to lean in on salads. Asian food and Vietnamese food has been, in the past, more focused on carb-ier menu items,” Tran said. “So we really wanted to lean in and have exciting salads … that we thought our customer would really like.”
The average unit volume in 2023 was $946,000, with average year-over-year growth just shy of 24 percent. The minimum investment required to open a Bun Mee franchise is $416,000.
Bun Mee’s two San Francisco International Airport locations draw customers from all over the world—some of whom ask Tran about franchise opportunities or opening outside of San Francisco. Originally, she wasn’t interested, but in the last few years she’s had a change of heart. “It all kind of organically happened. I’ve always wanted to expand the concept. That’s not new, that’s always been part of the plan. But to franchise as part of our expansion plan is a new thing,” she said.
For now, she’s focused on the western United States, so she could fly or drive to a location in about two-and-a-half hours. Finding the right franchisees for her brand, though, is where her priorities lie. “We would make exceptions” to the West Coast targets for multi-unit operators or “franchisees that have a level of experience that we feel like … we know that they don’t need a lot of governance.”
When she isn’t running Bun Mee, Tran loves to travel the world for hiking, food and even diving. She visited the national parks in Utah, where she says “every park felt like you were on a different planet.” Her most exciting hike (so far) was the Dolomites in Italy, which she visited in 2023.
“I do a lot of eco-traveling for adventure, a lot of adventures,” she said. “I travel the world, but they’re all opportunities for me to learn and to have food experiences that are inspiring, that I could incorporate in some way into my own business. That’s what makes it fun.”
Denise’s Trifecta: Hiked Patagonia // Practiced law // Favors ribeye steak dip