Information from a famous e-commerce site in the US specializing in selling Asian food (SayWeee - www.sayweee.com/) shows that CT Choice banana leaf sticky rice is in the top 2 best-selling frozen main dishes with sales maintained at more than 1,000 times/week.
According to the listed price, a box of corn sticky rice, with 3 small packages, each package weighing 150 grams, costs 5.99 USD. And Ut Chinh fish cake bread (CT Choice brand) also costs 5.99 USD/bag of 2 pieces weighing 200 grams, is also in the top 2 best-selling products in the bread and dessert category with 700 - 900 sales/week.
Mr. Hung Phan, a Vietnamese expatriate in California (USA), was very surprised when the fish cake sandwich, which was popular when he was in Vietnam, was now available in the US.
"They use baguettes, inside there is a long fish cake, sauce and pickles. In addition, the product also has a bag of salt and pepper on the outside to add if you find it bland.
This is a frozen dish, it only takes a few minutes to heat up and it's ready to eat. The taste is very similar to this dish in Vietnam" - Mr. Hung commented.
Banana leaf sticky rice produced in Vietnam - more than 1,000 boxes sold/week at Say Weee - screenshot
Mr. Hung was also surprised with the corn sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, with fried onions, ground peanuts mixed with sugar, salt, etc., just like the one bought from a sticky rice seller on a street corner in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to research, the unit developing this product line is CTWS Group (owns the CT Choice brand, Ut Chinh brand, ...) - one of the largest Asian food distribution companies in the US, headquartered in Houston, Texas, founded by Vietnamese-American businessman Dziem Chinh.
"Bringing traditional Vietnamese cuisine and street food to the world's dining tables in a convenient (ready to eat) form is the new direction of CTWS Group in the coming time" - Ms. Dziem Chinh said.
Fish cake bread and banana leaf sticky rice are packaged and frozen for sale in the US - photo by CTV
Over the past year, CTWS Group has experimented with products such as: fish cake bread, corn sticky rice, rice cake, sticky rice, palm sugar cake, pork skin cake, Quang noodles, My Tho noodles... with unexpected results.
For example, with corn sticky rice, the company sells an average of 72,000 packages of sticky rice and 40,000 pieces of bread per month.
These dishes are researched by CTWS Group, ordered from food factories in Vietnam to be produced and officially exported to the US.
"Even though it is frozen food, we use our experience and culinary knowledge to preserve the original flavor of the dish for diners," said Ms. Dziem Chinh.
Faced with the market's appeal, CTWS Group aims to sell 3 million sandwiches and 3 million sticky rice packages by 2024, targeting the 2 million Vietnamese community in the US.
In the future, CT Choice will expand its target audience to foreigners in the US with dishes such as pho, banh canh... which are quite popular with foreigners.
Currently, these products are distributed through 3 main channels: Vietnamese markets in the US, online dealer systems and the SayWeee website.
Why private label?
According to the founder of CTWS Group, what Vietnamese people living far from home crave the most is the taste of traditional, rustic Vietnamese street food.
The market for these dishes is huge, but it is not easy to bring them from Vietnam to the US. The products must not only be delicious but also produced by factories with full FDA, USDA, etc. certifications.
That is also the reason why CTWS Group has to develop its own brand of street food specialties.
With some traditional products that Vietnamese enterprises are strong enough for, CTWS Group accompanies and supports and only imports for distribution.
Currently, CTWS Group exclusively distributes Tin fish sauce, Vua Cua products, Phuong Ngoc Cai Be durian,... of Vietnamese enterprises.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/banh-mi-cha-ca-xoi-bap-va-nhieu-mon-an-duong-pho-viet-nam-da-co-mat-o-my-196240331073109243.htm
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