Family-run Toronto donut business to appear on Dragon's Den this week

A family-run donut chain that's been taking Toronto by storm is embarking on a new adventure as its founders prepare to face the Dragons.

Having grown their mochi donut business from one to 17 locations across the GTA in just two years, it's safe to say that the team behind Marry Me Mochi has already achieved remarkable success with their concept, but they're ready to take the business to new heights.

Owned and operated by sisters Salina Do and Sofia Nguyen, their brother Tommy Nguyen, his wife Tuyen Nguyen and Tommy, Salina and Sofia's cousin, Elisa Nguyen, the chain is the epitome of a family business, even if it far exceeds the bounds of your typical mom-and-pop operation.

"In our Vietnamese culture, you know, love is not something that is generally spoken," Tommy Nguyen tells us.

"We're a family of five Vietnamese immigrants […] and my mom is the one that sacrificed everything to be able to bring us here. She worked three jobs just to stay afloat in Toronto when she didn't even know the language. It was really tough for her. Just so that her kids could have a better life, she suffered a really bad one, but she never said, 'I love you' to any of us."

The real way that she expressed her love, aside from sacrificing the connections and culture she was accustomed to to settle her kids in Canada, was through food.

Marry Me Mochi, he explains, is his family's way of showing that very same love to the people of Toronto, only they do it through soft, satisfyingly chewy mochi donuts that are designed to be shared.

The owners aren't the only members of the family involved in the business — in fact, every step of the process, from the baking to deliveries and manning the shops, incorporates various members of the extended Nguyen family.

It's a special way to be sure that the integrity and ethos of the brand are consistent all the way through (along with other measures, like refusing to sell day-old donuts), but being in business with your family, Tommy says, isn't always easy.

"It's been an emotional roller coaster. It's been crazy," Tommy says of the brand's hypergrowth while sticking to its family business roots.

"The crazy thing about our team that makes it work is that it's all family. […] You might think, hey, family is reliable, and everything is great, but at the same time, there's a lot of stress, a lot of struggles. Working with family is one of the most difficult things that you can imagine, and that's why I always tell people, Marry Me Mochi is not just a story of family and love, it's a story of struggle."

Still, from an outsider's view, that struggle has allowed the chain to grow at an exceptional rate since 2023, and they're not slowing down any time soon.

The Marry Me Mochi team hopes to embark on an even larger expansion of the brand, but they can't do it alone.

On Thursday, Sept. 25, viewers across Canada will be able to tune in as Tommy, Tuyen, Salina, Sofia and Elisa face the Dragons on the latest episode of CBC's Dragon's Den.

While Tommy isn't at liberty to tell us whether the team managed to score a deal, he does divulge that the set built for their pitch was the most expensive in the franchise's history, so audiences can expect something truly spectacular.

He also tells us that all five Dragons tried mochi donut for the first time during Marry Me Mochi's pitch, but we'll have to tune in to find out what they thought.

"We were all super excited, but we were very, very nervous at the same time, just because we've never actually been on national TV, we've never been on a filming set like that before, and I kid you not, there might have been like 25 cameras, but we did it together," Tommy explains.

"I definitely wanted the world to see that this was such a strong family story. And all my sisters and my wife, we worked so hard, so hard in the last two years to put this amazing company together."

Come Thursday, the entire country — or, those across Canada who tune in — will get to hear the Marry Me Mochi story of, in Tommy's own words, family, love, and struggle.

What do they hope to get out of their appearance on the show? The exact deal they're angling for is tightly under wraps, but Tommy explains that any deal they're able to strike will go towards funding expansion beyond the limits of the GTA.