Having learned and made many kinds of cakes such as sponge cake, fresh moon and birthday cakes, Ms. Le Ngoc Thuy, a resident in An Hai Dong Ward, Son Tra District, da Nang opened the Milacake bakery at 46 Da Phuoc 4 and set up Milacake fanpage to start up her own business. The women also embarked upon cooking traditional Italian nutritional biscotti with different flavours to suit the taste and health status of many Vietnamese diners and hopes that this kind of nutritious cake would prove a big hit in the domestic market in the future.

Miacake shop is increasing the promotion of products for birthday, tea parties Photo: H.H

Born around the 18^th century in Italy, Biscotti known also as cantucci, are Italian almond biscuits that originated in the Tuscan city of Prato. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, crunchy, and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo.

Till date, this type of cake is still loved by many people because of its high nutrition and can be preserved for a long time.

Biscotti cake is made from whole wheat flour imported from abroad and many kinds of nuts such as chestnuts, walnuts, almonds and oats.

In order to satisfy the Vietnamese customers’ taste, especially those who are on a diet, have diabetes, pregnant women and children, she mixed some nuts and jams such as raisins, confectionery and do not use chemical sugar as well as cane sugar, instead a little sugar for dieters (isomalt).

In addition, to suit the taste of many people, in addition to the traditional biscotti flavour, Milacake shop also processes these cakes with flavours of green tea, chocolate and oats for fragrant cakes and easy to eat.

However, because the baking ingredients are mainly imported from abroad with high prices and the shop sells them at a price lower than the market by VND10,000 - VND20,000 /pack to introduce to customers, the profit per batch of cakes is low, only 20% of total revenue. What’s exciting is that many guests have tried it, regularly ordering biscotti.

In particular, the biscotti product with the startup idea of “Nutribakes, the perfect combination of nutritious cakes” by Thuy was awarded the third prize at the contest ‘Start-up ideas in 2023’ organized by the Son Tra District Women's Union at the end of June.

“Currently, besides introducing biscotti cakes on Milacake fanpage and receiving orders via social networks and phones, we also promote product introduction on e-commerce platforms for this cake, especially on ShopeeFood channel for online sales”, said Thuy.

Sharing about recipes for the profit, effective business as well as the direction to make biscotti become the main product line and avoid failure like many other startup products, Thuy revealed that, Milacake shop, in the immediate future, will strengthen the introduction and promotion of products such as birthday cakes, salted egg sponge cakes, cream puffs, tiramisu cakes to serve birthday and tea parties, and at the same time, promote the introduction and sale of cakes made from flour and fresh orange juice on the occasion of the full moon, holidays and Tet. Profits from the sale of the cakes are reinvested and paid to employees.

Ms. Thuy said that the price of biscotti remains stable as it is now while continuing to research to reduce some dependence on foreign ingredients as well as to process other flavours, optimizing the business plan so as to increase sales and profits.

“With the characteristic of being a nutritious cake with many health benefits and suitable for many Vietnamese people, I will constantly research, process and optimise the way to sell more biscotti to develop innovative products. This business is successful Milacake facility also participates in guiding students in baking classes to introduce this healthy biscotti cakes.”, said Thuy.

Reporting by HOANG HIEP - Translating by A.THU