When Thao Dang opened the doors of 2Dang Good on Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in May 2025, it was the result of years of planning, sacrifice, and a vision she had been building since she was a restaurant manager wondering why her community couldn’t find anything beyond pho and pad thai.

One year later, the shop is still standing and still growing.

Dang came to America from Vietnam in 1991, when she was one year old. She started in the restaurant business as a host, eventually rising to general manager and then to Proprietor at Outback Steakhouse. She left in July 2023 to put all of her energy into 2Dang Good.

The name says everything. “Two” for the number, “Dang” for her family name. It’s her and her mom.

“My mom always had an entrepreneur spirit in her ever since we came to America,” Dang said. “But because she was a single mom, she was always scared of taking the risk.”

Her mother has worked in a Fort Smith factory since the family arrived.

The concept came out of a frustration Dang felt looking around town.

“When you think of Japanese, all you have is sushi. When you think of Vietnamese, it’s just pho,” she said. “We have so much fun street food that’s just so yummy and creative, and a lot less intimidating for people who want to try new stuff.”

So she built a boba teahouse: handcrafted bubble tea made with real tea leaves and authentic recipes she had seen in Asia and Dallas, rich Vietnamese coffee, and desserts built to bridge cultures.

The mochi donuts aren’t strictly traditional, but they’re exactly the point.

“We’re taking donuts that American people love and combining them with more of a fun Asian taste,” she said. 

To make it happen, Dang worked with Bill Sabo at the Arkansas Small Business & Technology Development Center (ASBTDC) at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith on a business plan.

Needing capital to get 2Dang Good off the ground, Sabo referred Dang to Communities Unlimited (CU), where she connected with Debra Leach, CU’s Area Director of Lending. The Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, closed in spring 2024, covered equipment, furniture, a Square POS system, inventory, advertising, and working capital.

Dang said finding a lender willing to look at a start-up was harder than she expected.

“It’s very hard to find somebody that would believe in you and believe in your dreams,” she said. “Especially when you first open up and you don’t have the numbers that are concrete.”

“Talking to Debra, she really made me focus,” Dang said. “She was asking me these tough questions that really made me reevaluate where I get my supplies, my price point. She made me look at the littlest tiny details that would’ve escaped my mind. This whole experience educated me a whole lot. And Debra worked right alongside me the entire way.”

“Working with CU was such a blessing,” Dang said. “Just to get that head start, especially with the interest rate they offered, the opportunity itself was priceless to me.”

One year in, that dream is becoming a staple of the Fort Smith community.