Mother-daughter café brings Vietnamese flavors to Alpharetta

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. —Hanh Nguyen filled a decades-long dream when she opened July Moon Bakery and Café at the Maxwell in Alpharetta in 2022 — and she did it with her daughter by her side.

The bakery and café named in honor of Nguyen’s daughters, offers Vietnamese iced coffees, boba teas, bánh mìs and Asian pastries. She opened July Moon in 2022, but her dream stretched back much further.

Nguyen is a first-generation Vietnamese immigrant born in a Malaysian refugee camp, where she said she “should have died but didn’t.” Her mother made Vietnamese iced coffee to make a living and Nguyen often had to help.

“I used to crush ice for my mom, it’s not an easy task for a child,” Nguyen said.

After a tumultuous childhood, Nguyen, her mother and siblings ran away from her abusive father and spent two years in a homeless shelter. Nguyen said she had “humble beginnings” but eventually made it to college, and later Seattle, Washington, where she began her career in the IT industry.

“I might look polished, like I had it all together, but it’s been a long journey, a lot of sacrifices and heartaches,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen found success in the industry, working for various Fortune 500 companies. But the memories of making coffee with her mom never disappeared. Nguyen said her time in Seattle, a coffee destination and the origin of Starbucks turned her into a “bit of a coffee snob.”

She had wanted to open a business in Seattle, but the market was oversaturated with boba and coffee offerings. It wasn’t until Nguyen moved to Alpharetta for a job promotion that she saw an opportunity to bring her business concept to life.

Her eldest daughter, 11-year-old

Charlie, helped push Nguyen to pursue her dream. During a visit to a gourmet bakery years ago, Nguyen caught Charlie staring at the baristas. She told Charlie that if she wanted, she could work at a coffee shop one day.

“I’m not going to work here, I’m going to own my own bakery,” Charlie said.

Charlie’s response inspired Nguyen to pursue the café, both for herself and to inspire her daughter. Nguyen had no business ownership experience, little capital and faced a long journey to creating July Moon, but she was determined to build a business from the ground up.

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