The success of a Vietnamese restaurant in Belgium

On February 21, Trends magazine published the ranking of the top tax-paying businesses (Trends Gazellen 2024) in Belgium. In the top 25 small businesses (with added value under 1 million EUR) paying the highest taxes in Brussels, there is Hanoi Station - a restaurant owned by businessman Dao Hong Hai.

Trends magazine, a financial magazine, is compared by industry insiders to the Financial Times of Belgium. Trends Gazellen is an annual program organized by the magazine in collaboration with a number of partners to award the title of Gazellen Trend Ambassador - honoring leading tax-paying businesses that have the ability to inspire other businesses and positively influence the business environment through good revenue and standard declarations.

Ranking of some businesses in which Hanoi Station ranked 25th

Hanoi Station has received Trends Gazellen for 3 consecutive years in the Food and Beverage industry - a type of culinary, restaurant and catering service. Specifically, in 2020 it ranked 3rd, in 2021 it ranked 33rd and in 2022 it ranked 25th in Brussels.

The Trends Gazellen certification is highly regarded by the business community for its national reputation and regional recognition. A Trends Gazel is judged on the basis of sustainable growth in added value, human resources and cash flow. The figures are automatically calculated and objectively ranked based on the balance sheets of businesses in the last 5 financial years submitted to the National Bank.

Businessman Dao Hong Hai owns the Hanoi Station restaurant chain on Keltenlaan Street in the bustling Etterbeek district and in the famous Cameleon Shopping Center in Brussels. For nearly 10 years, Hong Hai has been serving Vietnamese cuisine to European diners in a station space imbued with the old Hanoi style, with propaganda posters such as "Ready to do military service to protect the fatherland", "1975 spring reunion", "Keep the homeland, keep the youth", "Vietnam in my heart" ...

Entrepreneur Dao Hong Hai received the Trends Gazellen 2024 certificate

At nearly 11 p.m., the conversation between the writer and Hong Hai was interrupted for a few minutes because she “had to call to order vegetables for the restaurant tomorrow. I was afraid I would forget while talking.” Hanoi Station has installed a black box - a type of machine sold and coded by the tax department, which helps to store the restaurant’s daily invoice data for many years to be transparent about its revenue sources.

In Belgium, restaurants with a revenue of more than 25,000 EUR/year from dine-in customers are required to install black boxes. Taxes in Belgium are also among the highest in Europe, with 12% tax for dine-in customers and 6% tax for take-out.

“Although it is certified that people pay high taxes, they are not necessarily as rich as those who pay low taxes. Up to now, my husband and I still live in an apartment,” Hai said self-deprecatingly. But she also affirmed that she cannot go against the trend if she wants to last long.

“I have proactively hired many Vietnamese students and international students so that they have a stable source of income while studying abroad, creating jobs for compatriots settling in Belgium to have the conditions to buy houses and sponsor relatives. What I receive is a stable monthly revenue, and brings long-term benefits such as many partners asking to buy the brand or wanting to cooperate with me,” said Hong Hai.

Before meeting Dao Hong Hai in person, the partners in Belgium carefully researched Hanoi Station's tax payment capacity. Paying taxes seriously and transparently also helps businesses build trust with suppliers.

Hai said that a meat supplier for Hanoi Station required payment within a week, and if they were late, they would cut off the next week's shipment. But later, sometimes he accidentally forgot for a whole month and didn't hear from the accountant there. When he asked, he found out that they trusted him, through regularly checking to see if he owed taxes to the government or owed employee salaries.

KIM HUONG

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