Born from a desire to restore the childhood spices of an overseas Vietnamese in Poland, DH Foods has not only realized his dream, but can also be used in Vietnam and around the world.

The strength of DH Foods is having enthusiastic and dedicated staff. Photo: Thong Hai

Born from a desire to restore the childhood spices of an overseas Vietnamese in Poland, DH Foods has not only realized his dream, but can also be used in Vietnam and around the world.

CEO and founder of DH Foods, Nguyen Trung Dung, said that he missed Vietnamese food while living in Poland. He treasured gifts such as spice packs, bottles of fish sauce and jars of ca phao (white, round eggplant) from friends and relatives. Dung had to travel hundreds of km to buy Vietnamese spices. Some Asian supermarkets sold mainly spices from Japan, Thailand while Vietnamese goods were not readily available.

After over 30 years of living in Europe, Dung knew how precious Vietnamese spices are in foreign countries. He had an ambition that one day, Vietnamese natural, clean and convenient spices would be available around the world.

 

He was one of the overseas Vietnamese pioneers in the instant noodle business in Poland. However, luck did not smile on him and Dung returned to his homeland in 2010. He was very happy to see that Vietnam was changing in positive ways, becoming more civilized and more modern. Dung also had many regrets when he was in his hometown, seeing that his childhood spice products had changed. Modern seasoning products had lost their rustic and natural taste, and were replaced by artificial colors, preservatives and flavorings.

During his working trips nationwide, he realized that every region had special spices imbued with the characteristics of those areas. But these spices were not widely sold, mainly in small retail outlets. With his love for those childhood spices, Dung re-started with DH Foods when he was over 50 years old.

 

DH Foods was established in 2012 with the aim of producing traditional Vietnamese spice products with the characteristics of each region. The biggest challenge for DH Foods at that time was how to recreate the habit of consuming natural spice products when a large part of Vietnamese consumers were used to industrial spices.

Besides its advanced production line, DH Foods have ensured the criteria of “no synthetic color, no artificial preservatives, no impurities” right from the beginning. The company has refreshed an old product line and overcome challenges to affirm its position in the market.

DH Foods products have been made available in most supermarkets in Vietnam and exported to Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Australia, the US, the UK, Germany and Russia. The markets of Japan and the Netherlands have grown by 30-50% per year. On February 22, DH Foods signed a cooperation agreement with Heritage Beverage Company, a company specializing in importing and distributing high-end Vietnamese products in the US.

Talking about the expectations of DH Foods, Dung said that the journey to distributing his products around the world contained both difficulties and new joys. For fishermen, happiness is coming back from the sea with a good catch. As for DH Foods, it is their pride and pleasure to introduce Vietnamese values to the world. Philip Kotler - the father of a modern marketing theory said: "Vietnam should be the kitchen of the world". DH Foods wishes to become the spice corner in that kitchen.

 

• Story:  Thao Vy & Nguyen Tuoi
• Photos:  Thong Hai & DH Foods
• Designer:  Trang Nhung