Hoi An-flavored bakery in Japan welcomes 500 customers per day

(Dan Tri) - Since the first day of starting a business in a foreign land, up to now, two young men from Quang have created 6 bakeries, expanding the chain throughout Japan, introducing Vietnamese bread to international customers.

Use wedding money to start a business

Born and raised in the flood-prone area of ​​Dai Loc, Quang Nam, two brothers Bui Thanh Duy, born in 1986 and Bui Thanh Tam, born in 1991, went to Japan to study with the hope of changing their lives.

Once, when visiting a bustling market in Tokyo, two Quang guys saw a long line of people waiting to buy Turkish bread. With a passion for Hoi An-flavored food from their hometown, the two guys cherished the idea of ​​opening a restaurant with their own brand.

"Vietnamese bread is delicious and is included in the Oxford English Dictionary, so why don't I open a shop right in Japan?", Thanh Tam wondered.

While the younger brother was full of enthusiasm to start a business, Thanh Tam's older brother was more hesitant. They had only been married for a year and his wife was still in school, so opening a restaurant was not easy for him. But then his wife agreed to use the wedding money as start-up capital.

Mr. Thanh Tam, founder of the "Banh Mi Xin Chao" brand in Japan (Photo: Thanh Tam).

Recalling the first days of starting their business, the two brothers Duy and Tam encountered countless difficulties. To open the shop, "Banh Mi Xin Chao" had to meet Japanese food safety and hygiene standards, find a factory to make Vietnamese-style bread, and solve problems with renting a location and staff...

"Finding a business location in Japan was very difficult because we could not open a shop on the second floor. To have a shop on the first floor of a busy street in Tokyo is not easy. After much research and consideration, we found a small, pretty shop on Waseda Dori. This is a food business area, but it is also a challenge for a small, unknown bakery," Duy confided.

After completing all legal procedures and passing inspections from local authorities, "Banh Mi Xin Chao" officially launched in October 2016.

Bringing Vietnamese flavors far and wide

Just a few months after its opening, "Banh Mi Xin Chao" has reaped its first "sweet fruits". Every day, the shop sells about 200 sandwiches. Along with that, diners can choose some accompanying products such as soft drinks or coffee.

The space of the restaurant reminds of the image of Hoi An.

At this time, the Japanese media began to pay attention to the small shop. Reporters from newspapers such as Chunichi News and Ameblo.jp also came to report.

"Japanese people have a habit of liking convenient foods that do not take too much time and can be taken to enjoy. Vietnamese bread is one of the dishes that can meet that criterion. To ensure the standard flavor of the dish, we have to grow our own herbs in Japan.

Other products such as meat, ham, and sausage are all homemade. As for bread, we had to go through many researches to find the perfect recipe, and order it from a separate factory to produce it every day," said the store manager.

The shop currently serves more than a dozen types of bread, with prices starting at VND106,000.

From the first Hoi An sandwich flavor, the restaurant has now launched dozens of different flavors for customers to choose from, from grilled pork sandwich, chicken salad sandwich, grilled pork sandwich, buttered shrimp sandwich, grilled chicken sandwich, special sandwich, salted pork sandwich with fish sauce, special sandwich with beef patty, fried egg sandwich, sandwich with beef stew to grilled salted chili sandwich.

Each type has its own unique flavor.

Diners line up to buy.

Currently, the price of bread ranges from 650 Yen to 750 Yen (106,000 VND - 125,000 VND). In addition to bread, the restaurant also serves beef pho, Quang noodles, vermicelli, salads, drinks and desserts.

"On average, the shop welcomes about 500 customers to buy banh mi every day. The dish is considered easy to eat and easy to take away, so it wins over local customers. Moreover, the Vietnamese community in Japan is quite large.

"The fact that customers come to the restaurant serving hometown dishes at reasonable prices helps us sell a few hundred sandwiches every day," the founder of "Banh Mi Xin Chao" shared.

The future is wide open

After nearly ten years of development and growth, from a small shop, "Banh Mi Xin Chao" has now expanded into a chain of stores across Japan, thereby highlighting the unique culinary features of Vietnam in the "land of cherry blossoms".

Mr. Le Nguyen (far left) on the opening day of one of 16 stores in Japan.

Accompanying "Banh Mi Xin Chao" from the early days, businessman Le Nguyen, Director of Senkyu, was the one who helped expand it to 16 stores across the "land of the rising sun".

It is known that when the store received attention from the Japanese media, Mr. Le Nguyen decided to accompany the project with the goal of "killing two birds with one stone".

"In addition to bringing Vietnamese cuisine closer to the Japanese people, we want to take advantage of the strength of the website and community groups with millions of members in Japan to promote the banh mi brand in particular and Vietnamese cuisine in general," said Mr. Le Nguyen.

Dantri.com.vn