Dare to compete with Hello Bread, the startup that was 'closed the deal' by shark Minh Beta

Appearing before shark Minh Beta with a bright smile and a challenge from shark Tillman Schulz to make a giant Grandma Lu's sandwich, Huong Luu - founder and CEO of the brand brought to the Shark Tank program a capital call for a model that combines cuisine and accommodation at the same location, helping to optimize revenue and costs. Coming to Shark Tank season 7 (episode 10, broadcast on the evening of September 30 on VTV3), Huong Luu called for an investment of 3.3 billion VND for 10% of shares.

Huong Luu said: "I grew up with my grandmother's bread cart."

Shark Tillman Schulz (right) talks about the disadvantage that Founders must consider: "On TV, you cannot protect your business idea"

Photo: Shark Tank Vietnam

Huong Luu said: "I grew up with my grandmother's bread cart. After my grandmother passed away from cancer, she left me with a feeling of nostalgia... so I created a bread brand to commemorate her. Besides, like my grandmother - who specializes in sharing values with the community, on each loaf of bread I have a code, customers scan this code and send it to Grandma Lu's. When receiving that code, I will donate 2,000 VND for each loaf of bread that the customer eats to charity."

The owner of this special bread added that, in addition to traditional ingredients, the brand also adds truffles, samphire (sea amaranth)... Grandma Lu's uses these vegetables to add an international flavor to the dish.

Developing the bread brand combined with accommodation services, she said each hotel has from 22 to 37 rooms. Foreign guests account for 70%, Vietnamese guests 30%. The age of guests is from 25 to 35 years old, office workers, business people. Currently, Grandma Lu's has 4 branches and always maintains a room occupancy rate of more than 90%, room prices are about 350,000 VND/person, at the same time, combining selling additional tours , in the near future will open more cooking classes and family dinners.

"I want to use the hotel model as a link. Currently, Grandma Lu's has a center to standardize all processes, and in the near future, we will aim to make frozen bread to supply entertainment chains," Huong Luu further explained.

The council of "sharks" stood between two streams of water, lost in thought.

Photo: Shark Tank Vietnam

Hearing the startup mention frozen bread, shark Minh Beta raised the question: "Usually with frozen bread, after defrosting, it will have a rather unpleasant smell?". Answering the shark's concerns, Huong Luu said that there is a standard process, inventory management on the software system, when finished, it will be frozen immediately in a -23°C refrigerator. Grandma Lu's has a barcode labeling machine to manage quality such as production date, expiration date...

Shark Tillman Schulz said the disadvantage that Founders have to consider "is that you cannot protect your business idea. Today millions of viewers are watching Shark Tank and there is a good chance that someone in Vietnam will think this bread idea is very good. So you will have a lot of competition".

"We are still different even though we have many competitors, thanks to our model of combining bread with hotel services. And we are not like sidewalk bread because we have a restaurant where people can enjoy food with music in a comfortable space," Huong Luu shared.

Shark Binh believes that this model only focuses on the niche of Western tourists, mainly concentrated in the core areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi or Da Nang. While his investment taste is for high risks, high profits, and great growth potential, he decided to... sit and listen.

Shark Van said "I really like you, I super like you" but still refused to invest.

Only Shark Minh Beta is still pursuing. However, because he did not put in cash, Huong Luu wanted to change the deal to 3 billion VND for 10% of shares, with the explanation of saving the remaining 8% to earn more cash from other investors. This did not convince Shark Minh Beta because "4 franchise points next year is difficult, I think we still have a lot of work to do before achieving that".

Shark Minh Beta (left) and bread startup 'close the deal'

Photo: Shark Tank Vietnam

Knowing that she could not change the situation, Huong Luu said: "Actually, for me, money is not everything, I do not have difficulty raising money" and joined Shark Tank because she wanted to be accompanied by the sharks, so she accepted a deal of 3 billion VND in kind for 18% of shark Minh Beta's shares, closing the successful capital raising deal.

Episode 10 of Shark Tank Vietnam season 7 also impressed with 2 chain models of the founders: LadolVita - 100% Vietnamese chocolate brand and Hustle Vietnam - boutique fitness gym system.

After much debate among the sharks, LadolVita's founder accepted the investment offer of 5 billion VND for 20% of shares with a commitment to international franchise after 6 months from shark Phi Van, successfully closing the capital raising deal.

Javier Macro Baq - founder of Hustle Vietnam made the "sharks" extremely excited. Shark Phi Van proposed to co-found something else with Javier Macro Baq, discuss and create a truly effective idea in Vietnam, and at the same time be able to expand to the international market. This idea was also enthusiastically responded to by shark Minh Beta. The deal was closed, although Hustle had not successfully raised capital in Shark Tank season 7, there was an offer of cooperation from shark Phi Van and shark Minh Beta - wishing to be companions in the future.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dam-canh-tranh-voi-banh-mi-xin-chao-startup-duoc-shark-minh-beta-chot-deal-185240930215624187.htm