When Shyla Enoul immigrated to the United States from South Vietnam in her early 20s in 1987, she proudly packed her passion for making food, rich culture, and enduring work ethic. Since then, countless connoisseurs in the dining public have tasted and touted the fruits of her labor of love poured into her restaurants.
Ms. Enoul is the chef, chief executive officer, founder and owner of Lobster Banh Mi, a Vietnamese sandwich restaurant in Duluth, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. After years of striving, building restaurant brands, networking, and consulting, her last venture has been steadily gaining exposure and positive reviews. Ms. Enoul’s priority lies in her greatest area of expertise: maintaining the highest quality of the food prepared by her and her staff.
For Ms. Enoul, failure was never an option. The veteran restaurateur describes herself as independent and patient, with the ability to handle a variety of tasks simultaneously. She became involved in the industry because food has always automatically been her focus. In 1995, she opened her first restaurant in the United States and named it Vietnam 75. She went on to open 11 more restaurants across the South in the years that followed.
That experience included Ms. Enoul being the chef, founder, and owner of seven restaurants in Virginia, one in Maryland, and four in Georgia, including a Vietnamese noodle soup restaurant named John Pho ‘n Bar and French/Vietnamese sandwich shops Lobster Banh Mi and the Saigon Deli, Inc. The entrepreneur also worked as a restaurant consultant and a real estate investor with Castle Realty, Inc., in metropolitan Atlanta. With her restaurants, she dabbled with serving many kinds of foods before she finally decided that it was better for business and for her dining patrons to focus on a consistent category of cuisine when she opened her 13th and current restaurant Lobster Bahn Mi.
Ms. Enoul is motivated most by her mentors, the high-profile public speakers and authors Tony Robbins — for whom she used to work — and Jim Rohn, a mentor to Mr. Robbins. Their presentations and encouraging words help her to stay positive and give her the courage to push through and rise above any situation. Recalling her journey to everything she has achieved so far, there have been surprises, but she puts a high value on every opportunity that life brings, good or bad, even if it is not what she planned.
Some surprises have resulted in Ms. Enoul being honored for her accomplishments in the food industry. Along with being listed among the Marquis Who’s Who Top Professionals for 2022-2023, she was named Best of Atlanta by Atlanta Magazine for 2021-2022 and Best of Hall County, Georgia, in 2020. She received additional notoriety in two newspaper feature articles published in 2021 in The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the first headlined “Lobster Banh Mi Serves Classic Sandwiches at a Remarkable Price” and the other “Our Favorite Atlanta Dishes Right Now.”
Ms. Enoul holds a Doctor of Philosophy in metaphysical theology from the University of Metaphysical Sciences in Arcata, California, and a Bachelor of Science in accounting from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is a certified public accountant in Virginia and is certified as a reverend practitioner by the Wisdom of the Heart Church in Arcata. Continually on a quest for knowledge and mastery in other areas, Ms. Enoul is pursuing a Master of Science in leadership from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and a Master of Arts in political international relations at the Queen Mary University of London in England.
Away from the bustle of restaurant life, Ms. Enoul enjoys authoring her own books and poetry, singing, playing the piano, reading and literature. She is a devoted mother to son Nicholas Enoul and daughters Ahn Pham and Tien Pham. Ms. Enoul wants her restaurant to remain a legacy for her close-knit family.
