Vietnamese startup's bet on making snacks from crickets

Pouring more than a billion VND into producing cricket snacks and selling more than 10,000 packages in the first month, Rec Rec dreams of popularizing insect food to Vietnamese people, but it is not easy.

"Snacks are always 'badly' labeled as unhealthy and lacking in nutrition. This is an opportunity for us to create a new branch of healthy snacks," said Nguyen Hong Ngoc Bich (Bicky Nguyen), Co-founder of Rec Rec.

The snack market in Vietnam is worth about $5.81 billion, according to online data platform Statista (Germany). They hope to gain a share of this market thanks to people who like to eat healthy snacks. Instead of using starch, Ngoc Bich and like-minded people pooled money to produce snacks from cricket meat.

Although not a "rookie" in the cricket industry, Bich's ambition is still not easy to achieve. She is the Co-founder and Business Development Director of CricketOne - a wholesale producer and exporter of cricket protein to 20 markets. Established in 2017, this company is the second unit in the world to receive a novel food certification from the European Commission, allowing the company to sell its products throughout the EU.

Although the company is famous abroad, its name is unfamiliar to Vietnamese people. During the period 2016-2018, they sought opportunities in the domestic market but failed. The biggest obstacle is that using insects as food is not popular. "We approached many food companies to introduce it but it was very difficult to accept," she said.

Not giving up on the idea of selling cricket meat to Vietnamese people, the motivation arose when the export of whole crickets for snacking in North America and Europe increased sharply in the past 2 years. Believing that this was the right time to act, Bich could not knock on the doors of food companies like before. "There must be a bolder direction," she told herself.

Nguyen Hong Ngoc Bich (Bicky Nguyen), Co-founder of Rec Rec. Photo provided by character — Nguyen Hong Ngoc Bich (Bicky Nguyen), Co-founder of Rec Rec. *Photo* *provided by character*

So they decided to produce cricket snacks themselves. For distribution, they partnered with the agricultural e-commerce platform FoodMap from September 2022. The two sides agreed to contribute one billion VND, 50-50 to establish Rec Rec. They also contributed personnel for phases 1 and 2 to work directly with the project's independent personnel team.

Initially, the founding team planned to go in the direction of specialty products. But after doing some research, they chose to go straight to the mass snack market. "We decided to do it systematically from quality standards, packaging, and flavor so that we can be on par and stand out more on supermarket shelves when placed alongside existing snack lines," Bich said.

Only when they started to implement did they realize the hardship. The most difficult part was the research and development of the complete product, from the taste to the appearance. To find the segment, the situations in which the product was used, the pricing policy and the identity, they conducted many rounds of market research with many different customer groups and ages.

As a result, they realized that snacking is a culture, not simply eating to satisfy hunger. "People can and want to snack at all times, whether full or not, sad or happy, alone or with others," Bich said.

However, snacks in Vietnam are mainly made from starch such as potatoes, wheat flour, rice flour, corn flour. The differences between brands only revolve around changes in shape, texture and seasoning. The common weakness is that they are often labeled as "poor in nutrition".

Using whole crickets and no vegetable oil, Bich's team believes their product is strong in terms of health. "Each Rec Rec packet provides 14-15 grams of protein, equivalent to one serving of protein for an adult per meal, along with vitamins and minerals," the co-founder said. For ease of eating, their dried whole crickets are shaken in three flavors: Wasabi, salted egg and cheese.

The snack is produced at CricketOne's factory, taking advantage of existing facilities and raw materials, with a maximum capacity of 100,000 bags per week. "Increasing production is not a problem at all because CricketOne's current production capacity is 45 tons of input per month, which will increase to 150 tons per month by July," Bich said.

Launched in February 2023, more than 10,000 cricket snack packs were sold through online channels and social media. They are currently available on the shelves of offline stores of Fine Life, BRG, Nam An and have found their way into Aeon, Kohnan, and Circle K.

FoodMap representative Mai Thanh Thai said that this is a new product but has been widely accepted by young consumers with open minds and modern lifestyles. "This is demonstrated by the fact that the product is currently selling well in convenience stores, supermarkets and online channels," he said.

Some retailers are also starting to see the effect. BRG said they have high expectations for this unique product with beautiful packaging, making consumers curious.

However, besides conquering the curious, popularizing it to the general public is still not simple, due to unfamiliarity with eating insects. "Housewives are still afraid and have not experienced much," said a representative of the Finelife chain.

According to retailers, the product is suitable for people who eat "clean" (prioritize plants, grains, lean protein), "keto" (eat low carbohydrates and high in good fats) or need a snack when exercising but the brand is not well known. Even at the counter, the packaging size is smaller than other snack brands, so it is difficult to see.

Whole dried cricket snacks are covered in a snack cake for promotion. Photo provided by the character — Whole dried cricket snacks are covered in a snack cake for promotion. Photo *provided by the character*

Surveying the reactions, Ngoc Bich said that 30% of consumers welcomed and used the product, 20% were neutral, and 50% refused to use it. "With this result, our task is to serve the 30% group, launch new products to conquer the 20% group, and let the market gradually conquer the 50% group," she suggested.

According to the plan, in the next 6 months, she will launch new packaging sizes, adding flavors such as barbeque, lemongrass chili, and original. After that, they will make snacks from cricket protein powder. The startup's debut product is whole dried cricket snacks, which Bich calls the "hardcore" (difficult). Therefore, if customers accept it, products from cricket protein will have a higher chance of winning the battle.

"Rec Rec should have a tasting program and product consultation emphasizing unique features so that customers can easily grasp information and access products faster," BRG representative suggested.

Statista predicts that the snack market in Vietnam will grow 8.93% annually over the next five years, reaching a size of 8.91 billion USD by 2028. FoodMap is optimistic that the demand for healthy eating is increasing, helping to increase the rate of returning to buy cricket snacks. "I believe that in just about 4-5 years, the consumption of products made from crickets or other sustainable alternative proteins will become very popular," said Thanh Thai.

The journey to conquer the domestic market has just begun, but this startup has proactively set its sights on the international market. To test the response, in March they called for $10,000 in crowdfunding on the US platform Indiegogo. The fundraising round quickly ended after 3 days with money poured in from users in 5 countries including the US, Singapore, and Australia.

"If we develop to our full potential and make every effort in the set direction, we hope the company will receive a fair valuation and be on par with snack and FoodTech companies like in other markets in the US, Europe and India," Ngoc Bich hopes.

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