Save SHYAMA!

Hi! I'm a friend of the head chef (her name is Vivian!) at this AMAZING new vegan restaurant called Shyama. (Located in the San Fernando Valley: 8366 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park, CA 91304)

Shyama is the continuation and transformation of the previous restaurant, Pho CT, which was Vivian’s family-run establishment for over a decade. Pho CT was started by Vivian’s uncle, Thien Nguyen, who came to the U. S. From Vietnam in 1985. For the past few years, Pho CT was kept alive mostly through the tireless efforts of her mother Kim, who ran the restaurant by herself amidst and post-Covid 19 pandemic, oftentimes working 70-80 hours a week to the detriment of her mental and physical well being. Exhausted by this lifestyle, Kim and family tried to sell the restaurant during the pandemic but were unable to. Therefore they were forced to continue being open and think of alternative solutions to this Catch-22.

In an effort to provide some relief to her mother and continue the family business, Vivian has taken over the restaurant, spending all the money she had to help sustain the brick and mortar while also having to remodel everything on her own. She decided to use this as an opportunity to share her passion for living a non-violent lifestyle through vegan food and also showcasing her knowledge of cooking and spices she picked up from years of travel and living throughout India and Southeast Asia. Now that Shyama is off the ground, she is in dire need of support from the community to keep the shop up and running.

Your donations would go towards covering the cost of food, rent, employees, and all the other costs which come with starting a restaurant.

After only 6 weeks of being open, the restaurant has been receiving nothing but outstanding reviews, which in turn is leading to more and more people coming every night. While they really appreciate the warm reception and popularity, they are barely breaking even to pay for rent and cost of food, while Shyama’s four employees are still working unpaid (purely as volunteers). Every dinner rush has become so overwhelming for the team and they are in dire need of more kitchen and front-of-the-house help.

Hands down, this is one of the best vegan restaurants I've ever been to, with the most diverse and mouth-watering menu I've ever tasted. She combines the aromatic flavors of South East Asia and everything is VEGAN -- it's unbelievably delicious! If you don’t believe me, read all their yelp and google reviews!

Please help keep this restaurant alive! If anyone is willing to volunteer in the meantime before they reach their goal, please email [email redacted]

Any help is received with open arms and with the greatest gratitude. If we can't make our goal, it will be impossible for Shyama to continue its operations, so please donate with your heart -- every dollar counts!

Thank you so much!