Introduction

Tony Vu, founder of Flint Social Club, has been invested in building community and countering the toxic culture of the food world since his start in the industry. As chef/owner of noodle stall MaMang in the Flint Farmers’ Market, he’s committed to paying living wages to his employees and fostering a safe and supportive work culture.

As executive chef/partner of fast casual restaurant The Good Bowl in Traverse City, he’s built upon these values and expanded them to create a business model that gives back to the community. The Good Bowl’s dollar per bowl donation model has raised and donated over $100,000 to mostly local charities in 3 years of operation.

Tony was a fellow of the 2020 Detroit Food Lab Fellowship for Change in Food and Labor, which gathered food justice leaders from around the country and held conversations that planted the seeds for a radical new food system based in equity, possibility, power, and dignity for all. His work and advocacy for Flint has been featured in numerous media outlets including The Food Network, Vice Magazine, and the Detroit Free Press; and he was profiled in the Square documentary Forged in Flint.

For his work with Flint Social Club, Tony was recognized as one of the most important entrepreneurs of the past decade by Inc Magazine alongside luminaries such as Elon Musk and Hamdi Ulukaya. Tony brings a wealth of real world experience in building food businesses from the ground up, having gotten his start with popups that quickly grew into the food truck Wraps n’ Rolls.