It all started in 2016. A vision was realized to create a Lao food company in America to share, preserve, and make ethnic Lao food products more accessible for the mass public. With that vision in mind, Joi Simmaly (Founder) chose one of his favorite dishes to share as an easy introduction to Lao cuisine …Lao sausages. The mission was simple; make the most delicious Lao sausage and share it with as many people as possible. It was at this moment, Spicy Joi was born. It started with the support from friends and family buying modest amounts for feedback. Then over time, Spicy Joi started becoming a popular food booth fixture during annual Lao New Year events throughout California. Simultaneously, Spicy Joi came into high demand for private catering gigs. This led to three years of “Talaat Sao” Lao street food pop-up restaurants which frequently sold out. On May 8th, 2020 amidst the unforeseen Covid 19 Pandemic, Spicy Joi partnered up with a local restaurant named Rockin Crawfish located in Concord, CA. Spicy Joi opened as a secondary restaurant inside Rockin Crawfish sharing the kitchen to offer Banh Mi & Lao street food. Within a few months, the restaurant became a huge success by quickly rising to the top Asian restaurants in Concord. Spicy Joi is now expanding with a full menu offering three varieties of traditional Lao noodle soup dishes. Set to open in February 2022 we are opening our very first stand-alone brick and mortar restaurant. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of our awesome die-hard supporters through the past five years. And so the story of Spicy Joi continues…#laofoodmovement