Sad when customers reduce 40%
For more than ten years, the restaurant of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung (50 years old, living in District 10) has been a familiar destination for many crab noodle soup lovers in Ho Chi Minh City. The restaurant is located on the front of Vinh Vien Street and is always crowded with customers. Suddenly one day, it moved to a deserted alley, making many people curious.
Mrs. Dung's noodle shop has had fewer customers since moving into the alley.
One afternoon, I stopped by the restaurant. At this time, there were only a few customers coming in for a snack. The owner was busy preparing ingredients to serve the evening rush hour, from 6pm to 8pm.
While working, Mrs. Dung clicked her tongue and confided that because she had just moved to a new address, which was also her home, not long ago, the restaurant had lost 40% of its customers, mostly walk-in customers, making the owner feel sad.
Since selling banh canh, she has only moved locations twice. The first place she sold was a small rented shop at number 66, also on Vinh Vien Street. After selling for a few years, customers supported her enthusiastically, so she rented a larger space at number 79, and has been selling for the past ten years.
The couple "started over" at the new restaurant.
Although the restaurant is not as crowded as before, it is still full during peak hours.
“Last year, my acquaintance took back the premises to live in, not to rent to anyone. If you ask me if I regret it, I do, having spent decades building a reputation there. But that's it, so I accept it. After that, my husband and I decided to move back to the house and sell it. This is our house, and we're not afraid of anyone taking it back, so we decided to start over here," she said, smiling.
Moving to a location in an alley, business was somewhat more difficult. However, the loyal customers who had been with the shop for many years still came to support her. That was a great motivation for Ms. Dung to rebuild the shop. The woman encouraged herself that it didn't matter where she sold, as long as she sold with heart and vision, customers would automatically come to her.
Furthermore, selling at home also brings many benefits, when she can be completely proactive in everything. From preparing ingredients, cleaning the shop...
She inherited the cake recipe from her late mother.
The owner confided that since selling the new place, customers have decreased, so she has reduced her staff. The opening hours have also been shortened from 10am to 10pm, instead of starting at 7am like before. That is how the owner has more time to prepare everything carefully.
5 sisters open 5 restaurants to inherit their mother's business
40 years ago, Dung's parents opened a noodle shop to make a living and raise her five children. At the age of 9, she started working at a restaurant to help her mother, but she never thought she would follow in her family's footsteps.
“When I was young, I loved trading, selling clothes, shoes… at the market, I didn’t like cooking because selling food was very hard. But later, it seemed like the profession chose me, I finally returned to my old stall, inheriting my mother’s crab noodle soup recipe. Now she is no longer here, and this food stall is like a reminder, preserving my memories of my mother,” she said.
The broth recipe is what the owner is most proud of.
A bowl of cake costs 40,000 VND, customers can order more if they want.
The owner revealed that her family has 5 sisters, and all 5 of them opened their own crab noodle soup shop, inheriting the family recipe. She sells in District 10, and her sisters also opened shops in District 1, District 12, and Binh Thanh District.
Talking about the secret to making banh canh that has made customers "addicted" for many years, the owner smiled and confided that it all lies in the broth. "Every restaurant can make fresh ingredients like pork, shrimp, crab, quail eggs... but the thick broth with rich flavor cooked according to my family's own recipe is unmistakable," the owner proudly said.
That is also the comment of Mr. Luu Thanh Hung (28 years old, living in District 10), a regular customer of the restaurant for many years. Originally from District 8, whenever he is on the way, he stops by this restaurant to enjoy a bowl of crab noodle soup from Ms. Dung.
The happiness of the hostess is to cook every day.
“I come here almost every week, at least once. Since she moved, I was a bit surprised at first, but the old place is not too far from the new one so it's okay. Usually I eat with friends and relatives, but today I ate alone. The price here is also very reasonable, 40,000 VND/bowl so it's affordable,” the customer confided.
Working again at the new location, although there are fewer customers, Ms. Dung is still happy that many regular customers still come to support her regularly. She said she will try her best to bring the most perfect bowls of noodles to customers, and she believes that things will go back to normal in the future.
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