Episode 213: Annie Balow + ThaiPop

On the podcast this week we talk with Annie Balow, owner of ThaiPop, a Thai food micro-restaurant based in Rochester, MN. A native of Thailand, Annie moved to Rochester with her husband Ryan in 2012. While in her home country, she worked as a medical laboratory scientist. However, when Annie moved to this community, she really missed the food she was used to having at home. So she decided to learn how to cook Thai food herself, something that she did not have much experience doing prior to living in the US. She taught herself to cook through experimentation and got so good that in 2015 she started doing pop-ups at Forager Brewing to share her Thai food with the community. In 2019, Annie, and her growing business ThaiPop, moved into a more permanent location at Marrow, at chef-in-residency program at the then Grand Rounds Brewing location. Join us today as we talk more about Annie’s journey with food and with her business ThaiPop.

Links from today’s show:
Website: https://thaipopmn.com/
Facebook: @ThaiPopMN
Instagram: @thaipopmn

Music Attribution: Like That by Ano Domini Beats is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library.

Episode Breakdown:
0:00 Start
3:30 Annie’s background and love for cooking and learning about new cultures through food
6:41 Desire to learn to cook Thai food to feel closer to home
12:38 Thai Pop pre-pandemic and now
16:03 Transitioning from medicine to following her love for food
19:20 Starting with pop-up Thai tasting menus at Forager Brewing
23:29 Moving to chef-in-residency program at Marrow
27:11 ThaiPop during the pandemic
31:49 Introducing Thai food to the Rochester community
33:37 Overwhelmed by the support given by this community
34:44 Tips for running a business with a spouse
37:42 Finding happiness when people experience her food
39:43 Plans for ThaiPop in 2021
42:06 Final questions
47:03 End

Photo courtesy of Annie Balow.

On the podcast this week we talk with Annie Balow, owner of ThaiPop, a Thai food micro-restaurant based in Rochester, MN. A native of Thailand, Annie moved to Rochester with her husband Ryan in 2012. While in her home country, she worked as a medical laboratory scientist. However, when Annie moved to this community, she really missed the food she was used to having at home. So she decided to learn how to cook Thai food herself, something that she did not have much experience doing prior to living in the US. She taught herself to cook through experimentation and got so good that in 2015 she started doing pop-ups at Forager Brewing to share her Thai food with the community. In 2019, Annie, and her growing business ThaiPop, moved into a more permanent location at Marrow, at chef-in-residency program at the then Grand Rounds Brewing location. Join us today as we talk more about Annie’s journey with food and with her business ThaiPop.

Links from today’s show:

Website: https://thaipopmn.com/

Facebook: @ThaiPopMN

Instagram: @thaipopmn

Music Attribution: Like That by Ano Domini Beats is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library. 

Episode Breakdown:

0:00 Start

3:30 Annie’s background and love for cooking and learning about new cultures through food

6:41 Desire to learn to cook Thai food to feel closer to home

12:38 Thai Pop pre-pandemic and now

16:03 Transitioning from medicine to following her love for food

19:20 Starting with pop-up Thai tasting menus at Forager Brewing

23:29 Moving to chef-in-residency program at Marrow

27:11 ThaiPop during the pandemic

31:49 Introducing Thai food to the Rochester community

33:37 Overwhelmed by the support given by this community

34:44 Tips for running a business with a spouse

37:42 Finding happiness when people experience her food

39:43 Plans for ThaiPop in 2021

42:06 Final questions

47:03 End