Sticking with coffee beans like a destined fate, businessman Do Ngoc Hoa has made consumers “open their hearts, open their wallets” with rustic coffee, while farmers are getting more and more affluent.
Entrepreneur Do Ngoc Hoa has never lost motivation when pursuing the “difficult land” of rustic coffee. first. The gloomy epidemic atmosphere, plus the hot weather with outdoor temperatures up to more than 40 degrees Celsius, made the 2-storey apartment at the beginning of lane 10, Lang Ha street, Hanoi, quiet, only the sound of the grinding mill was heard. Coffee rustling in the old attic seems to bring the soul of Hanoi. Customers who came to buy take-away coffee had to wait for a while to see a short middle-aged man running down, sweaty without forgetting to explain his delay: “I’m in the middle of roasting a batch of coffee for you. customer promptly took. During this period, on average, I only roast 15 batches per day, each batch of 10 kg. Before the epidemic, I normally roasted 20-25 batches/day. Every morning when you wake up, believe that everything you do has meaning. This sounds boring, but to protect the things I love, I will do anything. The strong aroma with a little bit of burning emanating from the roasting batches is enough for coffee addicts, or those who are stressed about work, to feel alert, light and relaxed. That man is Do Ngoc Hoa, founder of a chain of 22 Rain Coffee franchises in Hanoi and some northern and central cities and provinces. In the not too distant future, this number will increase exponentially. The cramped house is tucked away behind the glitz and glamor of the high-rise buildings. No matter how quickly time changes, the golden walls are close together, the paint is peeling, the iron frame is rusted and discolored as if marking each stage of the city’s changes. Now, that small house will witness more of the process of making Do Ngoc Hoa’s dream come true. Before that, he decided to leave Rain Coffee headquarters from the flashy modern high-rise building on Dao Tan Street. “The small, cramped office is not as important as the fact that we spend time, effort and expense in our efforts to bring customers the best organic roasted coffee beans,” said Do Ngoc Hoa. This place is not a luxury cafe for young people to come and check-in, but for coffee lovers, with the habit of drinking rustic roasted coffee, also known as pure. They come to find relaxation, silence, sip a cup of strong, bitter, aromatic and sometimes even burnt coffee that is very typical with nostalgia for the past… The rustic coffee segment is not popular in the market, because this is coffee that is roasted and ground only by temperature. Therefore, Do Ngoc Hoa has to use a coffee roaster, standardize the color, then grind and put it into use, not add any other flavorings while roasting. People in the profession call it carpentry, which has a rustic meaning to name this coffee. Popular coffee beans on the market today are often seasoned with a little flavoring such as butter to enhance the delicious flavor of the beans. If the trader uses unclean aromas, it will make the coffee lose its value. The taste is pure and strong, but due to the high cost, rustic coffees are often not used much. The majority of daily coffee users still choose coffee based on its aroma. 100% pure unseasoned coffee will not have too much aroma, but only mild flavor. However, in the past few years, the coffee market has been very “turbulent” when it comes to a lot of information about dirty, spiced coffee. Consumers have become more conscious in enjoying coffee and protecting their health, so they have “opened their hearts, opened their wallets” with clean coffee like rustic roasted coffee. That was when Do Ngoc Hoa jumped into the game with the market. 2. Before entering the F&B business and choosing to stick with rustic coffee, Do Ngoc Hoa was a coffee addict and just liked to drink coffee for a walk. Partly because he has experience in many professions: construction, trading in building materials; transport business; import and export; restaurant business… But part of it is that he wants to read many people’s coffee tastes. “There are many ways to enjoy coffee. For customers, there is only one taste. With me, friends or VIP guests can drink according to their preferences or experience different ways of making. If you are an addict, you will be hypnotized by this rustic coffee,” Hoa said. That was the process he accumulated experience to enter the business. But it’s not enough for him to “get drunk” with this rustic coffee. “When I determined this was a game, I had to set up a business model and of course accept to learn,” he said. Rain Coffee develops in two directions: developing the franchise system and producing and supplying pure roasted coffee beans to the market. The shop owners that Do Ngoc Hoa approached with their first product offerings helped him get the concept around coffee beans and understand how roasted coffee is different from traditional blends. Then he read more documents to understand the molecular structure of coffee beans. Once he grasped the theory, Do Ngoc Hoa began to wade into the raw material areas of Dak Lak, Lam Dong, etc., to sleep with farmers. Having witnessed firsthand the process of harvesting coffee beans, from the time the coffee plant blooms to the time it is purchased, he understands the factors that affect the quality of the beans such as green, ripe, old and new varieties. What is the quality of the coffee? 2015 was a time when the market was lacking standard coffee, still the heyday of traditional coffee with bold, shiny black. Jumping into the market segment with rustic coffee is considered a “hard to swallow” decision for many people, because most consumers only have the habit of drinking strong coffee, mixed with butter… “I am not sure to provide consumers with good coffee, because good or not depends on the taste of the user. But I’m sure my raw coffee is standard,” Do Ngoc Hoa said, admitting that when mixed products still cover the market, rustic coffee only accounts for about 20% of the market share. The reason is, business owners aged 50-70 selling coffee for a living are afraid to change, they still prefer flavored powdered coffee. Over 4 years of learning, Do Ngoc Hoa has created better products and still retains the pure coffee taste, creating a variety of choices for customers. According to him, consumers need safe coffee products that are prepared with the right formula. This is not a short-term game, any investor, shop owner who wants to receive a Rain Coffee franchise must commit to a long-term business, at least 4 years. Rain Coffee owns a good source of coffee, choosing partners to collect directly from big, long-standing names in the market. And importantly, from the very beginning, Do Ngoc Hoa chose the franchise business model. This helps Rain Coffee capture the market quickly. At first, he accepted the franchise for free. Now that it’s okay, he started charging about 100 million dong per store, with a minimum area of 40 m2. “If the shop owner only has money to invest, cares about profit margins, but does not care about the quality of drinks and ingredients, we will not shake hands to franchise,” Do Ngoc Hoa said. There is no secret recipe or technology, anyone can open a coffee shop. But at Rain Coffee, stable quality of coffee beans must come first. The number of incidents related to the quality of raw materials can only be counted on one finger. 3. The F&B industry is entrenched because of the pandemic, Rain Coffee is no exception. In 2020, the Company entered phase II of the business model, packaging the model to create momentum to new heights. Along with that is expanding the field of F&B personnel training because Vietnam’s tourism industry is still very potential and the market is still growing well. The company also started a plan to raise capital, following a group of investors (from 3-5 investors) with the same passion for the coffee industry. Rain Coffee appeared in the last episode of Shark Tank Vietnam season 1 (2018), with the aim of calling for VND 2 billion in exchange for 20% of the Company’s shares. However, this model did not convince investors to pour capital. “That defeat kept us awake. Investors help me see and optimize the path. Not long after that, we sped up and got more customers. But perhaps people don’t look at that, but look at the story of our raw materials, customer retention and stable product quality all year round,” said Do Ngoc Hoa. The construction engineer is now a businessman, but the “quality” of dust has not faded. He still vigorously fights for survival, for the respect of partners, friends, customers. Those who know and follow his every step think that it is right for him to leave the engineering career path. For him, this is a happy journey, bringing 100% pure coffee to Vietnamese users and changing farming habits in raw coffee growing areas. Tired, yes, but he has never lost motivation when pursuing this difficult “land” to swallow. “I do whatever I do to find out and have a specific plan, so I just move forward, never doubting and doubting my choice,” he affirmed.
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