Project Vite Kitchens

I’m Tim, founder and CEO, and... 

Vite Ramen isn’t really mine. 

I love everything we’ve done dearly, and I’m proud of everything that we’ve accomplished, but... I’m going to be turning thirty-two in just 13 short days.

We’re not getting bought out by investors or the company being sold, if anyone’s worried about that. Vite isn’t secretly owned by a secret conglomerate either. When I say Vite Ramen isn’t really mine, I mean that Vite was never what I, personally, really wanted. It happened because of the pressures my twin and I were under at the time. I wrote about it two years ago before on the vite ramen blog, when I turned 30.

But it’s not really my dream still. It’s not really what I’d wanted to do all this time. Even if I’ve made it my own, even if I’ve done all these crazy, stupid things that we’ve become known for now, in the end...

Vite Ramen isn’t my dream.

I had different dreams, once. Dreams that I had in my head, always dangerous, always risky, never the right time. One thing after the other that I toyed with, and faded with time, overcome with reality, until I wandered through life, jealous of those who clung onto their dreams, as I struggled to remember-- Did I ever have dreams, or have I existed always in a void of the day to day?

There’s been glimmers, lately. Glimpses into what could’ve been, into the worlds and realities of what I might’ve done if life had been different.

Who would I be now if I had followed those dreams?

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer. I still have 100 pages of a novel written, and hundreds, if not thousands of pages of short stories and poems crowding up my hard drives. But writers don’t make money, I reasoned with pathologically asian logic, becoming a destitute writer would only confirm the failing grades and struggles I had with school.

So I threw away that dream.

Once upon a time, I wanted to be an actor. Even in my first year in theater, I was deemed one of the better actors, having a natural knack for it in what I now understand is from constant practice in masking my autism. But male asian actors don’t get roles, I thought, and I’d end up taking on small roles as I made ends meet serving at restaurants, and never make it.

So I threw away that dream.

Once upon a time, I wanted to make knives. At the tender age of 14, heart pounding, mouth dry, eyes staring down at the floor, I approached my parents with a piece of paper. They took it, confused at my strange behavior, and read the carefully written and researched essay I’d spent a month working on, trying to convince them why it would be a good idea to let me have a knife. They said no, and threw away that paper. 

So I threw away that dream.

Once upon a time, I didn’t want to be a chef. If I had to work at a restaurant anyway if I were to choose the path of an actor, then I would at least choose my own destiny. I’d been excelling in foods class. In fact, it was the only other class I’d been doing well in, besides theater. So on a whim, I chose this profession, went to culinary school, graduated at the top of my class, and started cooking for a Michelin Star restaurant as my very first job.

And then I was asked, one day, “Do you want to open your own restaurant?”

I stammered, stuttered, and said “Yes” without thinking. Why did that question trouble me so much? It hung over my head for my remaining days, until one day, I wrote a letter to the chef, talking about my decisions to leave, and resigned.

He smiled despite himself when reading it, impressed, and said, “Maybe you should try being a writer next.”

We laughed, one to diffuse the situation, one in bitter irony.

And I cried that night, for so many different reasons.

It’s 13 days before I’m 32. I’ve gotten to taste these worlds that might’ve been-- I’ve gotten to write scripts, act in stupid little ad videos, make some knives for partners we’ve worked with. Always with caveats. Always with restrictions. Always in service to another goal, another dream. Glimpses and mirages of what could’ve been.

Maybe the right time never comes.

Maybe life and reality always get in the way.

But if there’s never a right time, then there, too, is never a wrong time.

To be is to dream, and to dream is to live.

On July 28th, I want to dream again. I want to create something and do something that is truly and wholly mine, something built out of the dreams that were and dreams to be.

On July 28th, Project Vite Kitchens will open-- a crowdfunding event to start the dreams that I’d thrown away so long ago. Knives and kitchenware I can call my own, characters and stories tied to the unique, reverse 4th wall breaking storytelling that grows alongside you to teach you knife skills and care in a way never done before.

I’m scared. I’m excited. I’m proud. Whatever happens, I have, at least, dreamed again.

Throughout the next 13 days, we’ll be releasing more information, designs, concepts, and everything else that’s going into this project. I hope you’ll be as excited for this project as I am.

If you’re interested in secret rewards and additional updates and information, then sign up on the link below:

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-Tim, CEO/Founder Vite Kitchens