Quitting being an architect, the young man “gets rich” thanks to a 45-year-old ginseng drink truck

Leaving office work, Mr. Thai Nhu Hon took over the family’s traditional ginseng juice stall. Thanks to his acumen and good application of technology, he has “turned” the ginseng drink truck in front of his house into a chain of 6 stores spread across the city.

Quit being an architect to preserve her mother’s “property”

Mr. Thai Nhu Hon (30 years old) is the eldest child in a family with 2 children of Ms. Huynh Tieu Phuong (common name is Ms. Binh). Ms. Binh was taught the profession of making Chinese-style ginseng soup from her mother in 1977, when she was 19 years old. After decades of selling ginseng juice, Ms. Binh raised her two children to grow up and become successful.

Mr. Hon said, the ginseng drink shop in front of his house on Nguyen Thien Thuat street has become an unforgettable childhood memory in him and his relatives on the street. The family’s ginseng drink shop also has many “intestinal” customers, buying from when they were small until they became adults. “The most moving thing is that many guests have gone abroad to settle down, every time they have the opportunity to return to Vietnam, they will stop by my house ginseng juice shop to find the taste, old memories, talk with my mother like family”Mr. Hon said.

Mrs. Binh Ginseng Juice Shop on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

Those fond memories, plus the fact that his mother is getting older, make Hon always think about the prospect of a traditional ginseng drink in danger of being lost. After a long time of pondering, in 2019, Mr. Hon boldly quit the job of architecture pursued since university to take over his mother’s ginseng drink car.

Mr. Hon said, although he did not study business, he was used to trading from a young age through helping his mother. As a person who likes to observe, learns intuitively very quickly, so when he entered the restaurant manager, he did not have too many difficulties. Working together also makes Han’s mother-daughter relationship stronger.

Sitting next to her son in the newly opened branch of Ba Binh Ginseng Drink in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Binh couldn’t help but be proud of Mr. Hon. She said that when Mr. Hon expressed his desire to run a business with his mother, Ms. Binh fully supported it, as long as it was something that he liked to do.

From a family ginseng drink truck to a modern chain of stores

Thanks to the delicious quality, ensuring food hygiene and safety, Ba Binh Ginseng Drink has maintained a stable number of patrons. But Mr. Hon wishes to bring Ba Binh ginseng drink further. He soon noticed that customer needs had changed, the customer segment was gradually rejuvenated. Therefore, he boldly proposed to his mother some “rebranding” plans.

Starting with product quality, he tried reducing the sweetness of ginseng juice, then came up with the idea of ​​adding “topping” to drinks to bring customers new experiences.

To increase brand recognition, Mr. Hon designed the logo for the brand himself, boldly invested in changing the packaging, bottles, and cups of cool water to be more eye-catching and convenient. Mr. Hon said that when he first presented the renewal plan to his mother, Ms. Binh expressed concern but then nodded in support of him. In mid-2021, Mr. Hon realizes his long-cherished plan to open a second branch for Ba Binh Ginseng Juice in District 11.

Ms. Binh and Mr. Hon shared about the development journey of Ba Binh Ginseng Juice brand.

May 2021 is the next big turning point for Ba Binh Ginseng Drink when Hon decided to register the shop to operate on Gojek’s online food ordering platform GoFood in the context of social distancing due to the Covid-19 epidemic. “In the first 2 months of linking with the Gojek app, the revenue was just enough to help us maintain the stores. Fortunately, after the city reopened, the number of orders through the app increased sharply. Every day I can sell 70-80 orders on GoFood, and this number continues to grow. If calculated by month, the sales increase about 200%”Mr. Hon said.

With the bold moves of Mr. Hon, within just 1 year, Ba Binh Ginseng Juice from a small cart in front of a townhouse on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street has expanded into the second largest ginseng juice chain in Saigon with 6 stores in the world. many areas. To achieve the current coverage, Hon said that integrating with the wave of technology and developing an online sales model through online ordering applications is essential. Mr. Hon also revealed that, after bringing Ba Binh Ginseng Juice online, sales at the original branch of Nguyen Thien Thuat were also “prosperous”.

Anh Han shared: “Cooperating with GoFood is very enjoyable. Firstly, Gojek develops a good-looking, easy-to-use app interface. The company also provides a lot of support to its partners, with a GoBiz application dedicated to restaurants, helping small businesses like us easily familiarize themselves with technology and expand their customer base. With GoBiz, I can track the sales, manage the orders of the stores, from which the planning of raw materials and business planning is done effectively.”

Ms. Le Nguyen Ngoc Dung, GoFood Partner Development Manager of Gojek Vietnam said: “Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, we have witnessed a great change in people’s consumption habits, with more and more people shifting to using e-commerce platforms, including Online food ordering app. We hope that with the GoFood online food delivery service and an ecosystem of more than 200,000 driver partners and millions of Gojek users, they will be able to support restaurants and eateries to have one more form of development. new business more convenient, efficient and cost-effective”.

Looking back on the journey that has passed, Mr. Hon thinks that he himself is not necessarily good at business, but he is very lucky to choose the right direction with the right business partner. Hon confided that this year, he will try to expand business activities with his mother, reaching the milestone of 10 branches.