Good food begins with people.
We opened AN SANG to share Vietnamese cooking with the care it deserves, and to build a place where people are respected, supported and given room to grow.
How we got here
Nin Dang
Nin grew up in Da Nang, in a family that gathered around food. At weddings and large celebrations, her mother was often the one doing the cooking. Nin watched her feed a crowd and learned what it meant to take care of people through a meal.
When her mother became ill, Nin took on the responsibility of cooking for her family. She was eleven. What began as something her family needed became the work she loved.
She went on to study hospitality and management at Seneca in Toronto, gaining experience managing Swiss Chalet restaurants and working in independent restaurants. Those years shaped her expectations of service, leadership and consistency, and the standards she wanted to bring to a restaurant of her own.
For her final school project, she developed the concept for Bee The BanhMi. It was the beginning of a business she would eventually build with Danny, her husband.
Danny Truong
Danny started in hospitality at fourteen, waiting tables at Thanh Truc in downtown Calgary. The restaurant was run by his mother’s best friend, who had spent many years running restaurants. He also spent a year at Dairy Queen before joining his parents at Tropicana Pizza in Little Saigon Mall, in Forest Lawn.
By fifteen, he was helping run and manage the family’s pizza shop. Responsibility came early, along with plenty of opportunities to learn. He saw what his parents put into the business and began to understand how closely a restaurant’s success depends on the people and decisions behind it.
In 2018, Danny and his family opened a Vietnamese restaurant in Strathmore. His career also took him into healthcare. After graduating from Mount Royal University with a background in healthcare, he gained experience running a clinic.
Hospitality and healthcare gave him different perspectives on the same responsibility: looking after people and building an operation they can rely on. At AN SANG, that means supporting the team, understanding the business and helping people see what they could build for themselves.
A school project became Bee The BanhMi
The opportunity came during a visit to Avenida Food Hall, now Fresh & Local Market & Kitchens. Nin tried the crispy roasted pork belly at Expat Asia and told Danny she wanted to be their neighbour. If that was not possible, she still wanted to open there. She loved being surrounded by so many good places to eat.
Danny had a clinic nearby. When they found a vacant space in the food hall, he helped Nin turn the idea she had developed at school into Bee The BanhMi, her first business.
They still use her final project as the basis of the business handbook. The plan she wrote as a student continues to guide the work.
Bee The BanhMi gave them a place to put their experience into practice. AN SANG carries that work forward, with the same commitment to Vietnamese food and a clearer understanding of the kind of workplace they want to build.
Beyond the price of a bowl
Vietnamese cooking holds generations of knowledge. Each region has its own ingredients, techniques and ways of bringing people to the table. We want that depth to be recognised.
It raises a question we think is worth asking: why is Vietnamese food in North America so often expected to be cheap, regardless of the skill, ingredients and work behind it?
Affordability matters. So does recognising the craft. We hope our guests leave with a better understanding of what they have eaten, and a greater appreciation for the people who made it.
Within our community, we also have a responsibility to support one another’s progress. Sharing knowledge, encouraging better standards and making room for the next generation benefits more than one restaurant.
High standards belong in our cooking and in how we treat people. We want our team to feel valued and proud of their work, and our guests to enjoy good food in a place where they feel welcome.
Building a business we can stand behind
Our years in this industry included difficult workplaces, poor treatment and pay practices that were not always fair or clear. We took those experiences as lessons in what needed to change.
Running a restaurant well takes more than hard work. It takes an understanding of the numbers, clear communication and the willingness to be accountable. We want to bring that discipline to a business that takes good care of its people.
At AN SANG, we have a transparent tip pool shared with the team, paid training, mentoring and opportunities to take on leadership. Our aim is to keep improving how we pay, teach and support the people who help build this restaurant.
Standards we want to be held to
A busy service tests how we treat people. These are the standards we want our team to experience, our guests to notice and ourselves to be held to.
Explore what each value means to us.
01 Integrity
Trust begins with knowing where you stand. We are honest about our food, clear about how tips are shared and consistent in what we promise. Our team should never have to guess whether they are being treated fairly, and our guests should be able to trust what we serve.
02 Respect
Everyone deserves to be spoken to with patience and treated with dignity, especially when service gets busy. We listen, make room for questions and give feedback without putting people down. The care we offer our guests begins with the way we treat one another.
03 Accountability
When something goes wrong, we acknowledge it, put it right and learn from it. We give people clear expectations, training and support before holding them to a standard. That responsibility starts with us as owners. People should feel safe to speak up and confident that their concerns will be taken seriously.
04 Excellence
Excellence means being better than we were yesterday, even if it is only by 1%. We learn from each service, practise our skills and share what we know. Our job as leaders is to give people the training and support to keep improving, so they build confidence in their work and our guests feel the difference.
05 Teamwork
A good service depends on people looking out for one another. We share knowledge, step in when someone needs help and give credit where it is due. We make time to help people develop, because their future matters beyond the shift they are working today.
A future beyond the next shift
We want people to leave AN SANG with more skills, confidence and opportunities than they arrived with. For some, the ambition may be to own a restaurant. For others, it may lead somewhere entirely different.
Whatever that future looks like, we want to be a positive part of the journey. Seeing someone we have worked with go on to build something of their own would be a success worth celebrating.
That is the business we want to build: food we are proud to serve, people who can grow, and a meaningful contribution to the community we come from.
Danny Truong & Nin Dang
You are welcome at our table
Visit us on 17th Avenue in Calgary’s Beltline. Come for a meal, stay for a Vietnamese coffee and ask us about what is on your plate.
Tips are appreciated, never expected. We want you to enjoy the food, feel welcome and know you’re being well looked after.
Quality ingredients. We choose AA or AAA graded beef and Angus cuts for our steaks. We hold ourselves to high standards in what we buy and how we cook. Supporting Canadian businesses is part of our commitment to the community we are building here.
Eggs from Alberta farmers. Our eggs come from Britestone & Kneehill Colonies, whose farms use free-run aviaries. We choose them for their deep-coloured yolks and because the care behind our ingredients matters to us. Meet our egg farmers.
Regional cooking, carefully prepared. Our Hanoi-style phở uses roasted dried peanut worm, ginger and aromatics for gentle sweetness, without added rock sugar. Our central-style bún bò Huế uses thin vermicelli noodles.
Ingredients from Vietnam. We source specialty ingredients and the robusta beans for our Vietnamese coffee from Vietnam. That connection is part of the care we bring to our brunch and all-day dishes.
843 17th Avenue SW, Calgary. Bringing your team together? Explore our catering.
Featured in the Calgary Herald by Elizabeth Chorney-Booth. Read the story.