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Malden cook goes viral for selling trendy Ilocos empanadas out of her apartment
Janz Van's Ilocos empanadas went viral online, but after Malden's Board of Health shut it down, she's looking for a permanent spot to sell her popular Filipino street food.
When Ilocos empanadas took over social media, one Malden woman thought it’d be a good money-making opportunity to give the people what they want: a Filipino street food that was missing from Massachusetts.
Janz Van was right. Hundreds of customers began reaching out to her via direct messages, some driving across state lines or willing to pay more than the asking price, just to get a bite of the viral snack. What ensued for Van was her own virality, then a letter from the City of Malden’s Board of Health that told her to cease food business operations out of her apartment.
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Now she’s raising money to get a food truck and taking calls for potential pop-up partnerships in order to feed the backlog of hundreds of orders Van received for her Ilocos empanadas.
“[Customers] send me messages on TikTok from Canada because they saw [Ilocos empanadas] online, too,” Van said. “It’s going viral all over the United States.”
@jv030822 We have few spot left. Order now and reserve your empanada for friday and saturday (march 6-7) #preorder #ilocosempanada #massachusetts #boston #pickuponly ♬ Hungry – Chi Hoodie
Anyone on TikTok whose algorithm is set to deliver food trends has likely seen the bright orange empanadas on their feed. It’s similar in shape to the more familiar Latin American empanada, but made with rice flour for the shell and usually stuffed with longganisa sausage, green papaya, mung beans, and an egg. They’re a perfect snack for TikTok, given its fiery coloring and crispiness that results in an audible bite.
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It was on Van’s feed, too. She was born and grew up in The Philippines, though not in the northern region of Ilocos where the empanadas are predominantly found in stalls. She was also a chef in her native country and now works as a cook in the Seaport, but had never made Ilocos empanadas.
“I was craving it,” and that was all it took to send Van down this path, starting in August of last year. When she began to notice other people around here were craving it, too, she thought: “Let me try selling it.”
In February, she began offering the empanadas and homemade sauce for $10 per order. She called the business Janz Kitchen, which was only supposed to be a temporary venture to raise money for a new apartment and moving expenses.
She tried her hand at making 40 orders at a time, but the messages she received from customers on Facebook and TikTok exceeded that amount. Then she tried to make 60. Then 100.
At her peak, she cooked around 250 crispy Ilocos empanadas with some help from her stepdaughter. It still wasn’t enough to meet the demand piling up in her inbox.
Part of the surge in demand was because of content creators like Jenny Nomzz and Marc Lewis, who Van said reached out to her to try her Ilocos empanadas. They posted about Van’s food, to tens of thousands of likes, comments, and shares.
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“These look exactly like they do on social media,” Lewis said in a video on Instagram. “Should I do the break? I’m going to do the break.”
Then Lewis took a bite. “Dude, get these.”
Some people have been willing to pay double just to get a spot in line, Van said, and she’s had to put people on a waitlist.
But it might have been those videos, or Van’s own social media presence, that led to an issued code violation from Malden’s Board of Health, according to an email between an employee and Van shown to Boston.com.
As an employed cook, Van said she’s ServSafe certified, and she has a food allergen certificate. Her reason for being told to cease operations was due to location.
“Unfortunately, in Malden it is not allowed at all to have a residential kitchen permit, it is forbidden by the zoning ordinance,” the email from the Board of Health said. “In order to operate legally, you will need to find a commercial kitchen to operate out of.”
Boston.com reached out to the City of Malden to get more information about their decision but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
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To the dismay of hundreds of customers, Van had to pause orders.
She’s currently raising money on GoFundMe to purchase a food truck. After the overnight success of her business, Janz Kitchen, Van has decided to dedicate more time to this venture.
A food truck could cost Van at least $30,000. In the meantime, she’s going to sell her food at pop-ups.
Van announced last week that she was taking pre-orders again, but pick-up would be at a nightclub, MIXX360, instead of her apartment, starting in May.
Once she gets her food truck, Van said the plan is to take her Ilocos empanadas on the road across New England to give more people a chance to try this viral snack.
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