Van Teamer
Pudgy's Fine Cookies | Houston, TX
September 2025
The daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Van Teamer has had an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. After her father passed away when she was a child, Teamer stepped up to help her mother run their family businesses and take care of her younger siblings. As an adult, Teamer became a dental hygienist, but when the pandemic arrived, she found herself at a crossroads. Dissatisfied with the cookie offerings in Houston, she began baking them herself, experimenting with different techniques and flavor combinations. With encouragement from her husband, Teamer started selling cookies to family and friends, and soon word began to spread.
Teamer churned out cookies on the weekends, and when she was unable to continue working as a dental hygienist, she shifted to baking full-time. She began selling cookies at farmers markets, making deliveries, and catering events, and quickly outgrew her home kitchen. She teamed up with fellow Rising Star Josh De Leon of Underground Creamery, and they went in on a commercial space together.
Since its opening in 2022, Pudgy’s Fine Cookies has become enmeshed in the Houston hospitality industry. Teamer collaborates with fellow chefs in the city to create limited edition flavors, and she has also started the Pudgy Project—a mentoring initiative that teaches teenagers and young adults social and customer service skills as a way to build up their self-confidence. The bakery is a family affair as well, with Teamer’s daughter, Taylor, and her sister, Ann Nguyen, helping with operations and baking. Pudgy’s Fine Cookies now ships nationwide, and Teamer is looking to expand the Pudgy's brand with more brick-and-mortar locations to share her signature thick and chewy cookies across Houston and beyond.
