With strong desire to start up a business in the beverage industry, many young people in Da Nang have signed up to participate in bartending training courses at prestigious centres and academies across the city.

Dang Hong Quan, CEO, Namas Da Nang Manager is seen briefing barista skills on trainees. Photo: DAN TAM

Follow the bartending path

On the first day of a week, at the Namas Barista Training Academy at 382 Tran Hung Dao, Son Tra Distric, more than 10 students in a newly-opened class listened attentively to the trainer imparting knowledge and skills on bartending.

As one of the trainees, Le Van Tien Dat, 2,1, the owner of a small coffee shop in Son Tra District said that, in the past, he did not learn how to properly make drinks Since the beginning of the year, Dat has run a cafe, but it has yet to be popular due to the fact that the menu of drinks was rich. Still worse, Dat also didnot have the skills to publicise his business on social networks, so the coffee shop was still little known to customers.

“I want to know after the course how to make delicious and diverse drinks, how to find a good business premises and how to effectively manage employees to be more successful” Dat said.
Similarly, practitioner Tran Ngoc Minh Chau, 20, residing in Ngu Hanh Son District has worked at a cafe for many years, but most of Chau's dishes are simple, not really outstanding nor suitable for young people's taste.

Being a student, whilst being off from school days, Chau worked as a bartender at a cafe near the school to gain experience as well as earn extra income.

“Studying here (at the Namas), in addition to basic dishes, I also freely create my favourite dishes in my own way because I learned from ‘the roots’ of ingredients as well as the principles of preparation. After graduating from college, I want to open a small, unique and new cafe," unveiled Chau.

Towards professionalism

Present in Da Nang, since December 2020, the Namas Barista Training Academy has partly met the demand for professional bartending apprenticeships of students in the Central Viet Nam- Central Highlands regions.

On average, each month Namas opens 15 - 20 bartending and business training classes, with 8-12 students each, in Ha Noi, Vinh, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to the barista training, Namas also operates training courses on nutrition such as Detox & Healthy, Nutritious Nut Milk, Eat Clean and Pure Vegetarian.

“Namas mainly teaches trainees about methods and techniques of mixing. From basic to advanced, understand the foundation to create your own drinks. In addition, the centre also introduced its trainees to decoration, product photography, design options, bar management and the optimisation of stages in business operation”, Mr. Dang Hong Quan, CEO and manager of the Namas Da Nang branch.

As a person with nearly 10 years of experience in the F&B industry, Mr. Quan said that many young people like to run their own coffee shops but fail for many reasons such as choosing the unsuitable premises and business orientations and not focusing on the quality of drinks.
In the course of 12 sessions, Namas instructors focus on providing necessary  knowledge and skills for trainees so that they can open a coffee shop.

“My desire is to share my knowledge and experience with young people with the same passion about the F&B field. I have trained nearly 20 online and offline courses with a combined total of more than 4,000 students," said Quan.

Experiencing many different positions such as staff member, manager, and the owner of a cafe, Mr. Phan Cao Duy Hieu, 26, said that he previously trained personnel at a cafe, but since Namas opened a branch in Da Nang, he has taken on the role of trainer here.

Hieu said that, in addition to teaching barista skills, Namas allows students to join a network of café owners to exchange experience in bartending, operation and management skills.

Reporting by DAN TAM - Translating by A.THU