Healthy Pho at Pho Day - Photo: QUANG DINH
Pho Khoe is the name of a chain of Vietnamese pho restaurants in South Korea. From its first restaurant opened in 2019, Pho Khoe now has five locations in the heart of Seoul. Furthermore, the system trains and transfers its business concept to hundreds of other restaurants under different names.
Along with nearly 30 pho brands nationwide, Pho Khoe participated in Pho Day 2025, which took place on December 13th and 14th at the former Tax Department Store area, 135 Nguyen Hue Street, Ho Chi Minh City.
The obsession with hunger and the Pho Khoe chain right in the capital city of Seoul.
To survive and thrive in South Korea, businessman Nguyen Dinh Tuyen, owner of the Pho Khoe brand, recounts that it was a long process. Born into a poor family in Ninh Binh, he says, "The deepest motivation that drove me to culinary arts was the haunting fear of hunger."
In 1996, Mr. Tuyen moved to Ho Chi Minh City to learn various trades. During that period, he often had to eat instant noodles to get by, and every time he passed by a pho restaurant, the aroma wafting from it was both alluring and captivating.
Back then, pho was something of a luxury for a poor young man from the North who was struggling to make a living and find his future.
Driven by his desire to have enough to eat, he applied for jobs as a kitchen assistant in restaurants to both learn the trade and ensure he had something to eat.
Tuyen admits that he entered the F&B industry without graduating from any prestigious school, all stemming from his obsession with hunger and his love of cooking.
After mastering his trade, he opened a restaurant in Vung Tau selling rice dishes, pho, and noodle soup. However, the business didn't go anywhere because it was too dependent on the chef. From then on, he decided he had to cook, sell, and do everything himself to feel happy and independent.
Customers check in with the owner of Pho Khoe, Nguyen Dinh Tuyen (on the right) - Photo: HUU HANH
After several years in Japan, he moved to South Korea to become a brand ambassador for a food and beverage corporation there.
He noticed that most of the 3,000-4,000 pho restaurants at that time, including large franchise chains, were owned by Koreans. How could the Koreans do it? We are Vietnamese, pho is a Vietnamese dish, so why can't we do it?
In 2019, Nguyen Dinh Tuyen, then in his 40s, pooled all his savings from years of work and decided to combine the experience and technology he had learned from Japan and Korea with the core of Vietnamese cuisine to open one of the few Vietnamese pho restaurants in Seoul at that time.
He said he had strong belief that this dish is loved all over the world , so "there's no need to worry about it not selling well."
Opening his first pho restaurant right when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, he decided to choose a location in a large office complex with about 5,000 people, where people were still forced to work and eat.
He calculated that in that complex, if each person ate there once a month, he would have a stable income; and if he did well, they would come back many times.
"On opening day, the restaurant was so crowded that it filled the entire 100 square meters. Customers from the complex flocked down and formed long lines, as crowded as a subway station. And surprisingly, during the two years of the pandemic, the restaurant remained busy and no one contracted COVID-19," he recalled.
Due to the constant lack of seating, Mr. Tuyen decided to expand the space by taking over an additional 100m² from the adjacent building, and then adding another 200m² of outdoor area .
Six months later, Pho Khoe opened a second restaurant just a 5-minute walk from the first one. Instead of renting premises like the first branch, this time Nguyen Dinh Tuyen bought the property outright to avoid disruption during the business operation.
From there, he started selling the concept and operational procedures to about 20-30 Vietnamese people and 40-50 Koreans, gradually forming a chain and generating revenue for Pho Khoe.
A bowl of Pho Khoe (a type of Vietnamese noodle soup) welcomes customers at the start of the day - Photo: QUANG DINH
Why is it Ph in Khoe ?
The reason is very simple: It originates from a familiar question in communication between both Vietnamese and foreigners: "How are you? / Are you well?". This name emphasizes that "with good health, you can do anything."
When you're hungry, you need to eat until you're full; when you're healthy, you can do many things. Pho is considered a "medicine." A person recovering from illness will feel better immediately after eating a bowl of pho, and someone about to get sick can recover. Therefore, the name "Healthy" directly reflects the dish's benefits.
The brand name retains the question mark accent in Vietnamese. Mr. Tuyen explained that this was intentional to emphasize the unique characteristics of the Vietnamese language and that Pho Khoe originates from Vietnam, opened by a Vietnamese person in Korea.
The pho recipe is a blend of Northern and Southern styles, retaining the core Vietnamese essence but refined to suit international tastes. Essentially, the method of cooking the bones and beef remains the same, differing only in some of the accompanying spices and herbs. And besides pho, Pho Khoe also serves banh mi (Vietnamese baguette) as a complete combo.
The Pho Khoe bowl even contains a little kimchi - Photo: QUANG DINH
Pho Khoe from Korea participates in Pho Day - Photo: QUANG DINH
In 2024, the Vietnam Pho Festival came to South Korea. Pho Khoe participated for the first time; witnessing the atmosphere of a large-scale pho festival being held there for the first time, Mr. Tuyen felt "happy, proud, and honored."
The event attracted tens of thousands of people over two days, received extensive coverage from Korean and international media, and generated excitement within the community.
He said it wasn't just a joy for the pho restaurants, but for the entire Vietnamese community. They had the opportunity to gather and introduce their homeland's culture to the locals. "Festivals like this help promote Vietnamese agricultural products to the world, bringing joy to Vietnamese farmers as well," the owner of Pho Khoe shared.
That's why Pho Khoe had to return to Vietnam this time to participate in Pho Day.
If you visit a Pho Khoe (Healthy Pho) stall and see a man in a neatly tucked-in white shirt standing behind the counter asking customers questions, that's the "Healthy Pho" guy. He'll immediately say, "Eat Pho Khoe to be healthy." Of course!
The Pho Day 12-12 program, now in its 9th year with the theme "Elevating Vietnamese Rice - Spreading Across Five Continents," will take place over two days, December 13th and 14th, at the former Tax Department Store area, 135 Nguyen Hue Street, Saigon Ward, Ho Chi Minh City.
The program features nearly 30 famous and unique pho brands from North to South Vietnam, showcasing a diverse range of pho dishes reflecting the characteristics of different regions and local cultures.
With a price of 40,000 VND per bowl, the Pho Day festival on December 12, 2025, is expected to serve more than 20,000 servings over two days. The organizers will donate at least 10% of the pho sales revenue to the "Pho of Love" program, cooking and serving pho to people in the flood-stricken areas of Dak Lak province (formerly Phu Yen ), which recently suffered damage from natural disasters.
The Pho Day 12-12 program is supported and coordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Cultural Diplomacy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Trade Promotion - Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, and the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, with the diamond partnership of Acecook Vietnam Joint Stock Company for many years, and this year with the additional support of Ho Chi Minh City Development Commercial Bank (HDBank), Cholimex Food Joint Stock Company, Saigon Trading Corporation Limited (SATRA), Suntory Pepsico Beverage Company Limited...
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/qua-am-anh-cai-doi-dat-ten-quan-pho-khoe-o-han-quoc-tao-duoc-ca-chuoi-ban-pho-20251214134643367.htm
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