A young man from Hanoi pioneers the introduction of Vietnamese products to Thailand.

Nguyen Chi Cong, a multi-talented young man from Hanoi, has quietly but surely contributed a small part over the past four years to helping Vietnamese food brands gradually find a foothold in the Thai market.

For the past four years, Nguyen Chi Cong has been instrumental in introducing Vietnamese food to restaurants and hotels in Thailand.

Photo: Quoc Viet

Vietnamese son-in-law conquers the Thai market.

These days in Bangkok, I've had some interesting experiences with Vietnamese cuisine , from Thai-style Vietnamese dishes. But perhaps the most special was the encounter with Nguyen Chi Cong, a young man from Hanoi who, after four years as an office worker, is gradually creating a Vietnamese food identity in a foreign land.

We met Cong while he was standing at his stall in Alley 13, Samsen Street, Wachira Ward, Dusit District (Bangkok). His two carts contained everything from Chinsu chili sauce, pho sauce, fresh rice noodles, dried pho noodles, shrimp salt, Nam Ngu fish sauce, rice crackers, My Tho rice paper rolls, De Nhat noodles, pho… and even coffee, nestled beside the famous Saint Francis Xavier Church.

Cong said: "It used to be just a small stall that's been selling things for 30 years. My mother-in-law, a Thai woman of Vietnamese descent, opened it, mainly selling Thai goods to the Vietnamese community who migrated here about 200 years ago and the local Thai people."

After I got married and moved here, I took over the shop that still sold Thai products, mainly fresh produce like sausages and ham (these products are banned from import by customs abroad). But I discussed with my wife about expanding the business to include Vietnamese products as well.

Chi Cong's booth, with a distinctly Vietnamese feel.

Photo: Quoc Viet

So I expanded the shop, adding two carts selling fresh Thai produce and dried goods imported from Vietnam. In fact, the Thais responded very well. I noticed that Thais like Vietnamese food."

Chi Cong shared that he met his wife by chance – who was then working for Novotel – during a cooking training course at the hotel. His wife studied Vietnamese at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, so she has a great fondness for Vietnamese culture and people.

After getting married, the couple decided to move to Bangkok, and that's when the man born in 1985 began to hatch a plan to make Thai people like Vietnamese products. He quietly but meticulously prepared, visiting supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and other places to understand the tastes of local consumers.

We are proud that Vietnamese cuisine is becoming increasingly popular.

Many Thai tourists stop by to buy Vietnamese goods.

Photo: Quoc Viet

That meticulous market research process helped Cong chart his first course: the ready-to-eat food business. He then went to various companies in Vietnam to persuade them to agree to let him become their distributor in Thailand…

Mr. Cong happily said: "Purchasing power in Thailand is better than in Vietnam. That means Thais consume more domestically than Vietnamese people. They prefer Thai goods, and the great thing is that Thais themselves really appreciate goods from their own country."

But now Thais also use a lot of Vietnamese goods, and they are selective, not just buying the low-quality Chinese products. My stall has been open for 4 years and sells well, both Vietnamese and Thai goods.

I sell retail and, more importantly, expand my wholesale business to supermarkets and Thai restaurants in Bangkok. In particular, Thais really like branded Vietnamese coffee like G7, or coffee sourced directly from the plantations.

I went all the way to the coffee plantations in Dak Lak . They don't need brand names; they just need unbranded, unlabeled coffee, as long as the input is quality, pure, and unadulterated. That's what sells very well in Thailand. The business culture here is quite similar to Saigon; trustworthiness is important, and once they like a product, price isn't a major concern.

Ready-made Vietnamese food...

Photo: Quoc Viet

...or local dishes placed side-by-side with Thai dishes.

Photo: Quoc Viet

So, as long as you can guarantee the quality, that's enough for them. Having credibility will ensure sales and a livelihood. Therefore, I carefully select high-quality Vietnamese products that suit the tastes of consumers here.

For example, take fish sauce. Vietnam has plenty of brands from North to South, but here they prefer Nam Ngư, and it has to be anchovy fish sauce.

Or flour products and noodle-like foods. While also flour, Vietnamese flour is slightly different from Thai flour. For example, Vinh Thuan flour, when used to make Vietnamese savory pancakes (banh xeo and banh khot), will be crispy, chewy, and won't break when fried or wrapped.

I had to carefully select and research from the very beginning before deciding to import and sell. Of course, there were difficulties at the start, but gradually I got closer to customers, and then moved on to restaurants. To date, I'm wholesaling to more than 10 large restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels in Bangkok."

Thais really enjoy Vietnamese food.

Photo: Quoc Viet

Chi Cong with his wife Areeya and family.

Photo: Provided by the interviewee

Chi Cong said that these days he has met Vietnamese visitors who came to Bangkok to participate in or support the 33rd SEA Games. He proudly showed off his booth, which had been interviewed by CNN and many other YouTubers, streamers, and even VTV4.

This Vietnamese neighborhood has mostly become Thai, but I will try to leave my mark here. I came here starting from scratch, but luckily the Thai people aren't petty.

They have high incomes and are willing to spend on good food, so I am even more confident about contributing to bringing Vietnamese products to Thailand. We have many good products, and the two countries also share many cultural similarities."

Chi Cong used to be an office worker, studied intellectual property law at Hanoi University, worked for a real estate company, and his side job was registering trademarks. And quietly for the past four years, this young man, born in 1999, has been building a Vietnamese food brand in Bangkok with his small efforts, belief, sincerity, and seriousness.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chang-trai-ha-noi-khoi-nguon-san-pham-viet-nam-vao-dat-thai-18525121112383113.htm