Starting a business by making meatballs in bamboo tubes.

In Da Nang, Truong Thanh Hien quit his accounting job with a monthly salary of 30-40 million VND and started his own business making veal, pork, and shrimp patties in bamboo tubes.

Having graduated with a degree in finance and accounting, over 10 years ago, Hien worked as the chief accountant at a mineral processing plant in Laos for a large corporation. He had his own driver and interpreter, and all travel expenses were covered by the company. Despite the attractive income compared to the time, the young man born in 1986 was not content.

Driven by his entrepreneurial spirit, he bought land and opened a restaurant with 30 employees, aiming to serve Vietnamese customers who worked at the same company. However, the restaurant failed, resulting in a loss of 2 billion VND. Hien returned to Da Nang in 2018 with only 800,000 VND left and had to live in rented accommodation.

Mr. Truong Thanh Hien with his homemade bamboo tube sausage. Photo: Nguyen Dong

Acknowledging his lack of communication skills, Mr. Hien went to Hanoi to learn from experienced entrepreneurs and explore business strategies. However, his subsequent startups were unsuccessful. He launched an e-commerce website selling traditional medicine, but few people were interested, leading to bankruptcy; his solid wood furniture business, while profitable (earning 80 million VND in a month), felt "meaningless."

During a visit to his hometown of Thang Binh ( Quang Nam province), Mr. Hien noticed that the locals were raising a lot of shrimp, but they were mainly selling them commercially, resulting in low profits. "I decided to start a business making shrimp paste to help the people in my hometown get rich," Mr. Hien recounted about his decision five years ago.

Returning to Da Nang, after inquiring about shrimp patty-making establishments but finding that "no one was making patties from shrimp," Hien decided to learn the traditional beef patty-making craft of Quang Nam province, and then experiment with making shrimp patties.

After four months of learning how to make beef sausage, Mr. Hien creatively stuffed it into bamboo tubes to make the dish more fragrant and closer to Vietnamese culinary culture. Initially, he didn't know what size bamboo tube to choose; small tubes were difficult to stuff with meat, while large tubes resulted in sausages that weren't firm enough. Even after finding suitable bamboo tubes, another problem arose – the sausages became soggy and had to be thrown away.

Mr. Hien arranges the meatballs on the bamboo tubes. Photo: Nguyen Dong.

After many sleepless nights, he came up with the idea of ​​closing the bamboo tubes to allow the water to drain out, which led to the success of making beef and pork patties in bamboo tubes. When those two types of patties brought in some income, he returned to making shrimp patties in bamboo tubes. To ensure a clean source of raw materials, he invested 200 million VND in raising shrimp. But the shrimp meat wasn't properly sourced, making it unsuitable for making patties.

Throughout the six months of experimentation, Mr. Hien recounted how much money he wasted, with each batch of shrimp ingredients costing him 10 million dong. Once, utterly discouraged, he threw the batch of shrimp along with some leftover sausage powder into the refrigerator and went out drinking with friends. The next morning, when he took the ingredients out to make breakfast for his children, he discovered the shrimp and sausage powder had clumped together.

"I knew I had succeeded," Hien recounted, immediately stuffing a mixture of shrimp and sausage powder into bamboo tubes and steaming them. When the first batch of shrimp patties came out of the oven, he was so happy he almost cried. He perfected his recipe for shrimp patties: 65% live shrimp, 20% squid, 10% sausage and carrot, 5% pepper, garlic, fish sauce, salt, and tapioca starch.

The bamboo tubes, originating from the Central Highlands, are boiled before being stuffed with meat to eliminate bacteria. Most of the meatball-making process at Mr. Hien's workshop is done manually, except for grinding the meat and using the steamer. The workforce mainly consists of relatives, friends, and unskilled laborers from his hometown, whom he personally trains.

"Cocimo" brand shrimp patties cooked in bamboo tubes are now available in many central provinces. Photo: Thanh Hien

Currently, "Cocimo" brand grilled beef patties, Han River beef patties, pork patties, shrimp patties, and bamboo-grilled whiteleg shrimp patties have become familiar to consumers in Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Duong, and other provinces. The brand name is derived from the familiar Quang Nam saying, "What's there to eat?". The patties are guaranteed to be free of borax and preservatives; if any are found, a reward of 10 million VND and testing costs will be covered.

The "Cocimo" bamboo tube sausage product has been granted a food safety certificate. The facility generates nearly 3 billion VND in annual revenue. Mr. Hien's goal is to apply for the OCOP program and expand the market. "Vietnam is a major shrimp exporter, so making sausage will create a new product and boost the development of the shrimp farming industry," he added.

Nguyen Dong

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