# @dmregister on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcM9RzujK6T
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69416484-dmregister-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/391bd69a1d.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-19T01:00:39.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Des Moines Register (@DMRegister) — https://gondola.cc/DMRegister

## Caption

McDonald's seems like the safest bet for lunch. Tin Lam, then about 14 and a recent immigrant from south Vietnam, doesn’t speak a lick of English.

As Lam gets to the front of the line, he points, recites his learned phrase — Ha-Ppy Me-Al — and waits. But then the cashier starts asking questions: What type of Happy Meal? Hamburger, cheeseburger or chicken nuggets? Four piece or six piece? Apple slices? Fries? Which toy? Milk or soda? The words resonate like static in Lam’s head.

From that scared, embarrassed, rejected feeling became the seed of an idea, one that initially bloomed as a small startup website catering to the specific needs of independent immigrant-owned restaurants struggling to move online as COVID-19 choked their in-person business.

In just six years, that startup, EatFuti, has blossomed into a much larger amalgamation of a full-service ordering system, boutique marketing agency and foodie community serving 200 restaurants and 200,000 customers in 27 languages. And now EatFuti has flowered into the first-in-the-nation (to our understanding) State Fair food delivery service — a brand offshoot based, again, in solving a problem, this one much more personal.

Tap the link in our bio for more on this story. 

#DesMoines #Iowa #IowaStateFair #DSMUSA

## Stats

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## Tags

iowastatefair, iowa, dsmusa, desmoines

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