From £80K Job to Mochi Magic: How She Scooped Success with Ice Cream

Vivien Wong once had a well-paid job as an accountant, earning £80,000 a year, but she decided to leave it behind to follow her dream. Growing up in her family's bakery, Vivien always wanted to run her own business. When her father was diagnosed with cancer, she realized it was time to take a chance. Together with her brother Howard, Vivien started Little Moons, a company that makes mochi ice cream. Mochi is a sweet, chewy rice dough, and they wrap it around ice cream to make a unique treat. At first, Little Moons sold their mochi ice cream to restaurants and cinemas. It took five years before they could afford to invest in branding and start selling in supermarkets. Vivien believes that waiting for everything to be perfect is a mistake. She follows the 80-20 rule, which means getting your product 80 percent ready and then launching it. She says that if you wait for perfection, you might miss your chance. After launching, you can always improve your product as you go. Starting a business meant making sacrifices. Vivien left her comfortable job and moved in with her brother to save money. She had to do many things herself, from fixing computers to making ice cream and even handling the company’s finances on weekends. She says that when you run your own business, all the responsibility falls on you. Vivien also learned the importance of knowing your brand. She advises new business owners to focus on what their brand stands for and to say no to opportunities that do not fit. She warns against blindly following advice from experts, explaining that what works for one business might not work for another. Vivien and her brother would discuss the advice they received and decide together what was best for their company. Working with family can be challenging. Vivien and Howard had to learn to treat each other as colleagues at work, not just as siblings. They sometimes disagreed, especially when making big decisions like moving to a much larger factory. Vivien was more willing to take risks, while Howard was more cautious. Their different viewpoints helped them make better decisions together. Now that Little Moons has grown, they have a chief executive and a larger team, so Vivien and Howard do not have to handle everything themselves. This has allowed them to return to being just brother and sister outside of work. Little Moons became a huge hit on TikTok during the pandemic, but Vivien points out that their success was not instant. The company had been running for over ten years before going viral. They spent years learning how to make their product at a large scale, train staff, and supply big retailers. When demand suddenly increased, they were ready because of all the preparation they had done. Vivien says that building a business is not always exciting. It involves many small, sometimes boring steps. She wants people to understand that what looks like overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work. For anyone thinking about starting a business, Vivien’s advice is to start before you feel completely ready, be prepared to work hard, and remember that success takes time and patience.