Muong girl brings gai cake to become a popular gift at Suoi Ca Than

"In our Muong women's community, women play an important role in the family. In the past, we only cared about being wives and mothers, but now we focus more on building the family's economy. I am always willing to create jobs, teach vocational skills or support women in any way I can," said Ms. Cao Thi Chuyen (Thanh Hoa province) about her desire to promote the economy of her community.

When visiting Suoi Ca Than in Thanh Hoa , just through the door you can easily come across a stall selling Thanh specialty - Tu Tru sticky rice cake - very popular with Muong girl Cao Thi Chuyen.

"Banh gai is not originally from my hometown Cam Thuy but from Tho Xuan district, but seeing that the cake has potential to be sold in Suoi Ca, I took the trouble to study and then come back to make it, selling it to my store and other establishments in the district" - the girl born in 1990 shared with us about the opportunity to make banh gai.

The stall selling Thanh Hoa's specialty - Tu Tru sticky rice cake - is very popular with Muong girl Cao Thi Chuyen.

Ms. Cao Thi Chuyen tells about her journey to making gai cakes: Born into a farming family in a poor mountainous village, Ms. Chuyen and her husband went to the market to sell fast food and souvenirs around the Suoi Ca Than tourist area. The couple also sold wild honey, fruits and local agricultural products to tourists. However, selling small items did not bring the expected profit, the products were unstable and depended on the supply of farmers, which made her struggle to find a new direction.

Looking for a delicious gift, a specialty that she could make herself to ensure quality and stable quantity, Ms. Chuyen thought of gai cake. Thanh Hoa is famous for its sweet and fragrant Tu Tru gai cake, which is made from molasses instead of sugar like gai cakes in other places. Cam Thuy district is a land of sugarcane cultivation, molasses, gai leaves are also available, rice and beans are all delicious, very suitable for developing the gai cake making profession. There is also a tourist destination that attracts millions of visitors, Suoi Ca Than, selling gai cake will definitely be in high demand.

Thinking is doing, Ms. Cao Thi Chuyen arranged her work to go to Tu Tru village to learn the recipe for making gai cake. She is skillful and has a bright mind, so she was able to make the cake right away. However, the quality of the cake is not always consistent, there are times when the filling is undercooked, the crust is hard, and the cake is not fragrant. That further fueled her determination to make batches of quality and stable cakes. She experimented and adjusted the ratio of flour, molasses, and beans to suit the taste of her customers. "If I mess up, I do it again. I learn from my own mistakes. Every day is a new lesson," she shared.

In 2019, she officially produced handmade sticky rice cakes and sold them at the Suoi Ca Than tourist area. Customers came and returned, telling each other about the soft, sweet and fatty cakes typical of the Cam Thuy mountains and forests.

Ms. Chuyen's factory with specialized machines to increase cake production

The perfect blend of handcraft and machine

Ms. Chuyen's sticky rice cakes are handmade from all the stages of kneading dough, shaping dough, steaming cakes... The couple diligently do all the steps themselves, each day producing about 300 to 500 cakes. As the number of tourists increases, the demand increases, many shops in the area come to order her to make cakes for resale. Ms. Chuyen hires more workers to help, but the manual production limits productivity. The couple realizes the need for the help of machines to make the work more effective.

By 2023, thanks to being connected with Thanh Hoa Microfinance Organization, she boldly borrowed capital to invest in machinery. She invested in a cake making machine including a ramie leaf grinder, a rice flour grinder, and a dough mixer. Thanks to the application of technology, the output increased to nearly 1,000 cakes/day, the quality was more consistent, the dough was beaten evenly and smoother, the cakes were more flexible, and the cake making time was significantly shortened.

She also built a separate, hygienic factory, fully registered for food safety and environmental permits. Her family grows ramie leaves on the hill, grows sticky rice, green beans, and uses organic fertilizers to ensure quality and reduce the cost of importing raw materials. Right next to Suoi Ca Than, she opened a shop to display and sell products, creating an ideal stop for tourists to buy gifts.

In the near future, Ms. Chuyen plans to expand the factory, increase production to better serve the growing number of customers at Suoi Ca Than, and at the same time register product brands and participate in OCOP programs.

Staff of Thanh Hoa Microfinance Organization guides Ms. Chuyen to participate in learning on the project system.

Community Engagement and Cultural Preservation

Not alone on this journey, Ms. Chuyen has linked up with local households growing ramie leaves, green beans, coconuts, and upland sticky rice to proactively source clean ingredients, both increasing income for the people and preserving the value chain of local agricultural products. The ramie leaves are grown on her hill, dried, simmered, and ground - a laborious process that helps the cake not be too strong but have a distinctive aroma. The cake filling is made from green beans and hand-grated coconut, and the crust is made from dried banana leaves and dried coconut leaves - all of which are environmentally friendly.

Every day, her establishment regularly employs 4 female workers and creates more seasonal jobs, especially for women with young children who cannot work far away. At the point of sale, she arranges 2 trash bins for sorting - a small action but shows awareness of protecting the sustainable tourism environment.

"In our Muong women's community, women play an important role in the family. In the past, we only cared about being wives and mothers, but now we focus more on building the family's economy . Creating jobs, teaching a trade or supporting women in any way, I am always willing" - Ms. Chuyen smiled brightly in her colorful Muong costume, her eyes sparkling as she talked about her desire to promote the economy of her community.

Effective support from organizations

As a customer of Thanh Hoa Microfinance Organization, Ms. Chuyen was guided by credit officer Pham Thi Tuyen to participate in learning knowledge about management, business, and marketing through the online learning website of the project "Growing my business". The project is sponsored by VISA Vietnam through the Asia Foundation, the Center for Supporting Women's Development under the Vietnam Women's Union is the project owner. Registering for the program for the "Starting a Business" group, Ms. Chuyen has completed 13 mandatory lessons and 6 additional lessons, with basic content to start managing and operating her business model. She is most interested in financial knowledge such as Profit Planning, Financial Reports... in the program, because before that she only managed finances instinctively without any foundation. Thanks to the training, she has understood more and applied financial management to her model smoothly and accurately.

Not stopping there, after completing the online course, Ms. Chuyen started promoting gai cake via Facebook, Zalo, taking online orders, and delivering to customers. Currently, the average revenue is 90 million VND/month, the profit is about 20 million VND/month - a very significant number for a business household in the mountainous area.

Ms. Cao Thi Chuyen (in blue ao dai) received the Third Prize at the 2nd Award Ceremony - Business Development Award, May 16, 2025

Thanks to her impressive banh gai shop and her search and learning to create a long-term livelihood for her family, Ms. Cao Thi Chuyen - living in Cam Luong commune, Cam Thuy district, Thanh Hoa province - was honored with Third Prize in the 2nd Business Development Award of the project "Growing my business".

In the second round of the Business Development Award under the "Grow My Business" project, Ms. Cao Thi Chuyen's model of producing and selling gai cakes was awarded the Third Prize - a worthy recognition for the creativity, determination and community responsibility of the young Muong woman.

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Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/co-gai-muong-dua-banh-gai-thanh-thu-qua-hut-khach-tai-suoi-ca-than-20250529094750627.htm