Investing in the American dream

The five Ly brothers, owners of San Francisco's popular Sugar Bowl Bakery chain, came to America as refugees from Vietnam over a period of years beginning in the late 1970s. As “boat people,” they lacked money, knew little English and had no American relatives to help them get settled. The brothers and their wives at first found work as kitchen assistants, dishwashers and newspaper carriers.

Once established in their new home, the Lys began to follow their entrepreneurial dream. Like many refugees from Southeast Asia, they became bakers, a vocation that did not require English fluency. In the 1980s, after a brief attempt to start a baking business in partnership with some family friends, the Ly brothers pooled their savings to purchase what became the first Sugar Bowl Bakery at Balboa Street and 37th Avenue in San Francisco's Outer Richmond neighborhood, which has a sizable number of Asian residents.

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About the Author(s)

Dennis T Jaffe

Dennis T. Jaffe, Ph.D., is an adviser to families focusing on family business, governance, wealth and philanthropy. He leads Wise Counsel Research’s “100-Year Families” study.


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