What would you do to spend more time with family? Michell Huynh bought a business and changed her whole life.

Three years ago, Huynh was working as an ophthalmologist as she had for 15 years. The hour and a half to two hour commute to Bellevue was really taking its toll, and even though it was a great place to work, she knew she needed a change.

When she heard that the owner of the barely 15-month-old restaurant Honey Bear was selling it, she decided to take a leap of faith.

Normally, Huynh is not a risk taker, she said, but said ultimately she was “more scared of the regret than actually taking that risk.”

Two months later, she and her husband were running a banh mi and wing shop at 1640 S. 318th Pl., Suite A, Federal Way.

The Vietnamese sandwich shop features 12 varieties of banh mi, from more classic options like grilled pork to fusion twists like mesquite chicken. Serving sides like french fries and onion rings are also not typical at banh mi shops, but Honey Bear offers them. Other food offerings include fried rice and wings.

The restaurant and the glazed fish sauce variety of wings specifically have been gaining attention throughout the region and was recently featured in the Seattle Times.

When they took over the cafe, Huynh said they kept a lot of the food the same, but pared down the menu and are continuously making adjustments to make the food the best it can be.

An important element of the classic Vietnamese sandwich is the fresh baguette. Huynh drives from Federal Way to Tukwila each morning to source the bread from a local Vietnamese bakery to make sure the sandwiches have the right fluffiness.

Although the two careers might seem a world apart, one thing they do share is the requirement to know how to work well with people.

“No matter what field you’re in, it’s still customer service, it’s always about communication,” she said. “If you tell them straight up what to expect, then they appreciate that.”

The jump from one career to the other was also smoother than you might guess because sharing and making food has been part of her life for as long as she can remember.

“I just knew, knew from a really young age that food connects people,” Huynh said.

This all started with her grandma’s tradition of cooking for the family every weekend at her home in Oregon.

“Every Friday night, you already see her making this big pot of pho, the pot was so big that I could bathe in it,” she said. Pho takes a long time to simmer, so by Saturday it would be ready.

Many of her grandmother’s 12 children lived nearby, and soon the house would fill with them and their families.

“It’s just like a crazy house, just running around, it was so much fun,” Huynh recalled. “The other siblings would bring food, hang out, laugh, sing…back then the guitar was a big thing, so a lot of singing and things like that.”

Growing up seeing that labor of love that called everyone to come over had an impact on her.

Although she enjoyed her work as an ophthalmologist, working that nine to five job with such a long commute made it hard to offer her version of that gathering at her grandmother’s growing up.

“It’s harder to come home and try to cook something on the weekend and have people over,” Huynh said. She still would bring something to events, but now it’s so much easier.

One of her goals with owning the restaurant was to spend more time with family and have a better work/life balance. Now she closes up the shop with her husband, who works there after his other full time job. She also works with her aunt and her cousin and sometimes her sons.

Her parents stop by and other family members will also come to visit. It’s easier to whip up a plate of food for a family gathering or a party when she is already making the food all day.

With all that, running a business isn’t easy and it has been a challenging few years.

Her advice to anyone who is starting a business: “Just know something’s going to break,” she said.

First their grease trap broke, then a car rammed into the front of the business, then there was a flood. The ice machine, refrigerator and freezer also took turns breaking down.

When challenges arise, it’s the community connection and her family that keep her going.

Sometimes this means providing food for church groups who approach her for support, or sometimes that just means giving someone a meal who is hungry and isn’t able to pay.

The restaurant will be celebrating its third anniversary in April and invites the community to look out for announcements soon about celebrations for that special occasion.

Michelle Huynh and her husband Van Huynh are the owners of Honey Bear a local cafe serving banh mi sandwiches and wings among other dishes. The cafe is located at 1640 S. 318th Pl., Suite A, Federal Way. Photos by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror