Hanco's/Henry's Banh Mi War Makes This American Life

Last August a skirmish between two Vietnamese sandwich shops made it to the mainstream food news world. It was a story of sabotage, foul play, possibly copyright infringement that the Post called "the new front in the Vietnam War." Now it's on popular NPR show This American Life.

Basically, a few months after banh mi and bubble tea joint Hanco's opened, an employee opened Henry's four blocks away with the exact same menu, with the same typeface, coloring, recipes, descriptions, etc. Hanco's owner Tang Hanco accused his ex-employee Henry Huynh of both stealing recipes and design and sabotaging him by making bad sandwiches while he was still under his employ.

As a prologue to this week's show "Million Dollar Idea," host Ira Glass interviews first Hanco and then the workers left at Henry's—Huynh left last year to open yet another rival business called Home—and catches the latter group in a lie. Listen to the eight minute segment here.
· Million Dollar Idea [This American Life]
· Banh Mi Wars: Hanco's Takes on Newcomer Henry's [~ENY~]