by Eveline Chao
During the pandemic, April Htut ’15 became an overnight food entrepreneur, launching Myanmar Food USA, a website selling imported Burmese food products such as pickled tea-leaf salad and instant milk tea. Soon the fun side project turned into a booming family business, receiving up to 100 orders a day.
Htut, who completed her MBA at Duke and now works for tech multinational SAP, handles financial reporting and marketing. “It’s a lean, bootstrap business, but we work fast. Orders ship out within 12 hours, so if you live on the East Coast, it’s faster than Amazon Prime,” Htut says.
She was drawn to Bucknell due to its long-standing connection with Myanmar, where Htut was born.
Growing up in the U.S., she helped her mother sell Burmese treats at weekend festivals. At Bucknell, her family helped cater food for annual Burmese dinners. “My whole life, food has been at the center of how I interact with my family and my Asian community,” she says.
During the pandemic, April Htut ’15 became an overnight food entrepreneur, launching Myanmar Food USA, a website selling imported Burmese food products such as pickled tea-leaf salad and instant milk tea. Soon the fun side project turned into a booming family business, receiving up to 100 orders a day.
Htut, who completed her MBA at Duke and now works for tech multinational SAP, handles financial reporting and marketing. “It’s a lean, bootstrap business, but we work fast. Orders ship out within 12 hours, so if you live on the East Coast, it’s faster than Amazon Prime,” Htut says.
She was drawn to Bucknell due to its long-standing connection with Myanmar, where Htut was born.
Growing up in the U.S., she helped her mother sell Burmese treats at weekend festivals. At Bucknell, her family helped cater food for annual Burmese dinners. “My whole life, food has been at the center of how I interact with my family and my Asian community,” she says.