Mien Tay restaurants give 40 per cent of profit to charity

Founders My Le and husband Su Tran estimate they have donated £250,000 worth of aid
Aid: My Le outside one of her Mien Tay Vietnamese restaurants. She now plans to open a not-for-profit venue
Glenn Copus
Rehema Figueiredo2 December 2015

A family-run chain of Vietnamese restaurants has revealed it has secretly been donating 40 per cent of its profit to charity for six years — and now plans to open a not-for-profit venue.

My Le and husband Su Tran opened the first Mien Tay in Shoreditch seven years ago and now have three: another in Shoreditch and one in Battersea.

Once they started making a profit they decided to donate 40 per cent to charity in Vietnam. They estimate they have served a quarter of a million diners and more than £250,000 worth of aid, helping hundreds of thousands of people, has been generated from their profits and from personal donations. The couple have provided clothes, toys and school equipment, contributed to building roads and bridges, and helped set up surgeries and nursery schools.

Mrs Le, 57, last visited Vietnam in September, helping to fund a house for a family who could not afford to feed their children. She and Mr Su are now looking for a suitable location with a low rent for a new venue, to be called The Charity Restaurant, where all profits will go to good causes.

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The couple, who met in London in 2005, named their restaurants after their home province in south-west Vietnam. Mrs Le, a mother-of-four, said: “I feel uneasy that I have a better life, better chances than people in Vietnam, There, a family can survive on £50 a month, and the money goes further than here.”

For more information, visit mientay.co.uk

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