Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko enjoyed ‘banh mi’, a world-famous Vietnamese dish at a shop opened by two Vietnamese brothers during an official visit to Japan in November, 2023. Since the start of their business nearly 8 years ago, this was the first time Bui Thanh Duy, 38, five years Bui Thanh Tam’s senior, the two Vietnamese co-founders and owners of these Banh Mi Xin Chao (Hello Banh Mi) shops had welcomed such very special customers. The President expressed joy in experiencing Vietnamese cuisine in the foreign land and highly praised the cultural connection fostered by shared food traditions.

Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong (5th from right) and his wife (4th from right) at the Banh Mi Xin Chao shop in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: VNA

From the first 'banh mi' store launched in Japan in October 2016, two Vietnamese brothers have successfully turned the iconic Vietnamese stuffed baguette into a favourite in this East Asian country with a chain of 15 shops. Duy and Tam bet their  energy, intellect, youth, and even their future on the business. So, they pulled out all the stops to make it to fruition. 

The name originated when Tam noticed Asian market traders guessing the nationality of passersby to greet them. Being greeted "Xin chao!" (Hello!) in a foreign country as he passed by made a lasting impression on him.

Very surprising and deeply touching

Located on the second floor of a building on Kaminarimon Asakusa Street, Taito District, Tokyo, the two brothers' small yet beautiful shop sell ‘banh mi,  a world-famous Vietnamese dish consisting of a baguette typically stuffed with cold cuts, paté, vegetables, mayonnaise, and optional chilies. And a variety of other Vietnamese delicacies, including ‘pho’, coffee, spring rolls, and sweet soup desserts.

As reported, on November 28, 2023, President Thuong, accompanied by his wife Phan Thi Thanh Tam, along with Governor Yuriko and leaders of major Japanese corporations, visited Banh Mi Xin Chao shop in Tokyo. Upon his arrival at this venue, the President spent about 3-4 minutes informally talking to Tam. “Congratulations both of you. In Viet Nam, you are very famous. I've read articles about you. You are very good guys.”, complemented President Vo Van Thuong whose words of great encouragement surprised Tam.

Despite being fully aware of a fact that Banh Mi Xin Chao had been reported by a number of media agencies in Viet Nam before, Tam was very surprised as the President had read about it and paid attention to it, and even spent precious time visiting his shop regardless of his very busy schedule during his Japan trip.

But the surprise is not over yet!. When the breakfast dishes were brought up to the table, including ‘mi Quang’ (Quang noodles), President Vo Van Thuong told Tam: “Let me introduce this dish to my Japanese friends”. Then, the President excitedly shared with Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko and accompanying officials and the leaders of major businesses in Japan, about Quang noodles, with a focus on the specific ingredients, how to well cook them, how many types of Quang noodles there are and how to enjoy them.

Witnessing the President doing the aforementioned introductory deeds sincerely and simply, Tam was deeply moved. And in his life, Tam's presentation before the President and the Japanese guests about his ambitious goals of bringing Vietnamese bread and cuisine to the world that day was one of the speeches he felt most proud of.

Also present at the reception for such VIP customers with his younger brother, Bui Thanh Duy felt a sense of pride and showed a deep gratitude from the bottom of his heart to the President's sincere concern and words of great encouragement. The moment of welcoming the President that day was like a big milestone in the two brothers' journey of building their own business that has gone through many early hardships.

That was the most difficult moment when Duy decided to leave his stable, well-paid job with a good career development opportunity at a Japanese company to start a business with his younger brother Tam. It was three long months for the two brothers to work hard to find a rental place to open a ‘banh mi’ shop, which was not child’s play at all, and sometimes he wondered whether or not he made the wrong decision.

Those were the days of working up to 20 hours and having to sleep at the store because of too much work. All the hardships came back to Duy’s mind during his meeting with the President. He was very proud of what he and his younger brother have overcome everything challenging in a bid to be able to record the first big milestones in their own entrepreneurial path that successfully made their mark in the foreign country.

But what made the two brothers happier after the above-mentioned special moment was the phone call from their father from their hometown in Lam Phung Village, Dai Dong Commune, Dai Loc District, Quang Nam Province, upon being informed of the visit made by President Vo Van Thuong to his children’s store.

“That I and my wife have lived until now and witnessed what both of you have achieved today is very satisfying, and we don't need any more money.”, said the father who was moved to tears as he spoke to his beloved children at the time.  The father himself wholeheartedly supported his children in starting a business, not only with words of great encouragement and pieces of useful advice, but also with the savings he sent to them for the opening of their ‘banh mi’ shop in Japan.

Brothers Duy and Tam sat with Professor Tran Van Tho at the Banh Mi Xin Chao Asakusa store in November, 2023. Photo: Facebook/ Banh Mi Xin Chao

A new journey

Why did a small shop selling Vietnamese bread, a not-so-special dish, become a meeting place for Vietnamese and Japanese politicians? That question must have arisen by many people when they knew that President Vo Van Thuong and the Tokyo Governor and other members in their accompanying delegation came to the Banh Mi  Xin Chao for breakfast.

An employee of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also asked Tam: “Why does the President want to come here and not somewhere else?”. Responding to that question, Tam honestly shared: “We have always worked hard and done our best”. Indeed, what the two Quang Nam-borned brothers have achieved were mainly attributed to their ceaseless efforts.

Entering the 8^th year of operation, their bread brand has become familiar to many Japanese people. Pre-tax revenue in 2022 generated by their business reached US$2.2 million (equivalent more than VND 53 billion). The average monthly salary of a full-time employee is about VND40 million VND, even up to VND 60 million if working overtime.

Not only in Tokyo, Banh Mi Xin Chao has opened many stores in such other Japanese localities as Nagoya and Osaka. There is no denying that its brand recognition and coverage has clearly entered a new, very promising path.

The date, November 28, 2023, has certainly been recorded in Banh Mi Xin Chao’s history as it witnessed two events of great significance. In addition to the special visit made by the President and Tokyo Governor in the morning, a delegation led by Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of NextTech Group, popularly known as Shark Binh in Viet Nam, in the afternoon, came to the Banh Mi Xin Chao store to ink a deal under which Shark Binh would invest US$ 500,000 (more than VND12 billion) to develop a central kitchen that specializes in providing products to Banh Mi Xin Chao's nearby stores. Duy said that this signing date had been scheduled in advance and that this event completely coincided with the President’s visit.

The process of expanding the scale of Banh Mi Xin Chao started about three years ago and it was also the realisation of an excellent university graduation thesis by Bui Thanh Tam on the Vietnamese bread business model in Japan. This academic document realized the most important factors to run a sustainable business.

Three years of experience working regularly with Japanese companies as an interpreter and manager of Vietnamese interns have helped Duy gain a deep understanding of Japanese people, culture, and more specifically, the corporate culture in the land of the Rising Sun. Japanese people highly praise real, solid and enduring values rather than grandiose scales and macro goals.

“Japanese people don't need a business that is so big. Actually, they favour a reputable business with good products and good brand recognition.”, said Tam. Gradually building trust in a slow yet steady way, Banh Mi Xin Chao has gradually made its penetration into the leading supermarkets and chain stores in Japan. Two years ago, its products entered the second largest supermarket chain in Japan of Seven & I Holdings that owns the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, but now they have completed the deal to open 4-5 more stores between the end of 2023 and early 2024.

At the end of 2023, Banh Mi Xin Chao was present at a big building where the headquarters of Japanese fashion company Uniqlo and many businesses from all over the world are located. It plans to open another store in an Aeon Mall supermarket in one of three prefectures near Tokyo. Encouragingly, Banh Mi Xin Chao is the first foreign unit to enter this supermarket to compete with the the United State’s Subway bread brand as well as other famous fast food brands. More stores will be opened in early 2024 at major Japanese retail chain Don Kihote (possibly 1-2 stores) and at a subway station in Tokyo. Among the additional stores that will make their debut, Banh Mi Xin Chao will directly manage 2-3 stores whilst the rest are franchises.

In addition to bread, which is a Viet Nam’s signature product, Banh Mi Xin Chao shops also serve such highly familiar Vietnamese dishes such as Ha Noi’s ‘bun cha’ ( rice noodles with grilled pork and meatballs), beef vermicelli with wine sauce, and ‘pho’(a noodle dish served with hot broth cooked from beef or chicken). Happily, all new dishes received a high applause not only from the Vietnamese community in Japan, but also from a large number of indigenous inhabitants.

At this time, Hello Banh Mi is entered the thriving phase as seen by Bui Thanh Duy, along with corresponding big challenges. “When the scale of the business is small, you can directly manage everything, so it's easier to control what you want. But now, when we enter a bigger stage, we have to develop a team of associates who are so unified in terms of the company’s goals, core values, missions and its future development orientations. We are trying to fulfill this challenging task and are somewhat confident because we have great confidence in our current staff team.”, said Duy.

Life Gamble Until now, Bui Thanh Duy still believes that the most difficult moment in his life was when he had to decide to quit his job at a Japanese company to start a business with his younger brother Bui Thanh Tam. At that time, Tam was still a third year student and unmarried while Duy had been working at a Japanese company for 3 years with good salary and benefits. Despite being impressed with Tam’s idea of starting a business as mentioned in his university graduation thesis, Duy still faced deadlock due to many considerations coming into his mind at that time. Exchanging a stable job with high income for an uncertain future, while being burdened with an  important role as the breadwinner of the young family, was truly a ‘life gamble’ for Duy at that time. What will happen if he encounters failure? Taking this into account, along with sharing it with his parents and wife to make right decision, Duy felt confident when all of his beloved ones supported him and his younger brother in embarking upon starting a business. When Duy's wife gave birth to their first son, the first store of Banh Mi Xin Chao opened in October 2016. That was the reason why Duy named his baby boy ‘Banh Mi’ at home. “Until now, I still think the moment I had to decide to quit my job to start a business was the most difficult period in my life. And now I'm grateful because I made that decision. That was truly a life-changing moment.”, said Duy.

‘Two-horse carriage’ There are many very successful family companies in the world and there is no denying that blood relationships are a huge advantage if family members share consistent and persistent business goals and strategies. Looking at what the owners of the Banh Mi Xin Chai store chain has done so far, we can see the very reasonable complementarity between Duy and Tam. Depending on each stage, between the two brothers there is always a division of work suitable to each person's strengths and personalities, but there is always mutual support when needed. In the early stages, when Tam was the one in charge of preparing the menu for the shops, Duy made the suggestion of using Quang people's fish sauce-soaked pork as a bread filling. That suggestion has created a unique feature that is only available at Banh Mi Xin Chao, and not found anywhere else. And now, while Tam is in charge of planning company development strategies, marketing activities and working with Vietnamese partners, Duy tasks himself with internal organization activities, negotiating and signing contracts with Japanese  partners. The two brothers, each doing their own thing, cannot avoid having fierce arguments but in the end they only want to find the most suitable solution for the development of their ‘common brainchild’.

Reporting by DO DUONG - Translating by ANH THU