For a long time, the Vietnamese banh mi cart of Mr. Nguyen Huy Phuoc and Ms. Vu Hoang Giang has become a familiar image on the streets of Tokyo and during many festivals.
Sharing her story, Ms. Giang said: “My husband and I came to Japan as international students. Since graduating from vocational school, Mr. Phuoc had the idea of selling Vietnamese food on a mobile vehicle. But after graduating for 1 or 2 years, I gave birth to a baby, and he was the main breadwinner in the family. He was afraid that the business would not be favorable at first, so he had to put his dream on hold.”
In April 2018, Mr. Phuoc decided to quit his job to fulfill his wish. Instead of popular Japanese dishes such as pho and fried spring rolls, the couple decided to choose banh mi.
At that time, Giang and her husband's total capital was more than 100 Man (about 215 million VND). With this capital, they could not open a restaurant because the cost of renting a location was expensive, averaging about 600 - 1000 Man (about 1.2 - 2.1 billion) per year. They decided to learn about the regulations on selling on mobile vehicles.
Ms. Giang said that food safety regulations for mobile food trucks and food preparation on trucks are stricter than in restaurants, so choosing bread is also a more suitable choice than spring rolls or pho.
"At that time, many people in Japan did not know about bread. We hope to introduce bread to more Japanese people," Giang shared.
The couple researched on the internet to choose a car, design and install the equipment, then registered for a business license and sales location...
The first days of selling bread on a mobile truck are unforgettable memories for the Vietnamese couple.
Ms. Giang said: “When I first started my business, I registered to sell at the cherry blossom festival. My husband and I expected to sell well, but the truth was a "shock", the goods were unsold for a long time. Because, Japanese people have the habit of preparing their own food and bringing it to the park to enjoy the flowers with relatives and friends."
After that failure, Giang and her husband learned more about customer habits to have a reasonable service plan.
At first, Giang and Phuoc also had difficulty managing capital and handling inventory. Unstable customer numbers and unreasonable calculations caused them to have excess raw materials every day.
During this time, he and his wife had to borrow money from their families to cover their expenses. To overcome this situation, Mr. Phuoc and his wife tried many different menus and sales locations to understand their eating habits and how to advertise to the right customers.
Although mobile business is flexible in terms of location, it faces difficulties in terms of weather. On rainy, sunny or cold days, the number of customers will decrease, directly affecting revenue.
"No matter what difficulties we encounter, we always find a way to overcome them and never give up. When customers come to eat and praise the food, we are happy all day, and it motivates us to work even harder," said Mr. Phuoc.
After nearly 6 years of development, Mr. Phuoc and his wife now have 3 mobile banh mi carts and a restaurant in Tokyo. Each cart will sell at a different location every day, usually at large train stations, shopping malls, apartment buildings, under crowded offices, etc. Customers who want to eat can go to the store or follow the location where the cart stops to sell on a daily basis on the website.
On weekdays, the Vietnamese couple sells about 400-500 sandwiches and lunch boxes, and about 1,000 on weekends. Each sandwich costs 600-800 yen (about 100,000-135,000 VND). Most of the customers are Japanese.
Phuoc and his wife open their shop from 9am to 3pm. During festivals and big events, he will register his selling position with the organizing committee 1-3 months in advance. The seller must provide full licenses as well as ensure food hygiene and safety to be approved. These are opportunities for them to promote the image of Vietnamese bread.
Sharing his and his wife's upcoming plans, Mr. Phuoc hopes to develop a vehicle system to many provinces and cities to help make bread more known to the Japanese.
Photo: NVCC
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