In May 2015, Tokyo (Japan) had a lot of rain. In the middle of that cold summer, Mr. Mac Duc Manh (33 years old, from Hai Duong) cycled, carrying a load of tea, every day to Shinokubo train station. The cigarette smoke at the train station was so strong that sometimes Mr. Manh clicked his tongue and left there for a moment, went outside to breathe and then came back to sell again.
Mr. Manh was still cycling to the train station to sell cups of tea (Photo: NVCC).
The hardship of being away from home when starting a business
Quickly putting on a raincoat, Mr. Manh still tried to smile and talk, offering each cup of tea when he caught a glimpse of Vietnamese guests passing by.
“The happiest is the moment when I see customers eating delicious food, satisfying their nostalgia for their hometown. Gradually, my small tea truck had more customers, and each day it sold 300 cups, at a price of 300 yen/cup (equivalent to 50,000 VND). . On big holidays, I can sell 500 cups/day. Looking at customers standing in line waiting to buy, I am indescribably happy!”, Mr. Manh said.
After each tea sale at the train station, Mr. Manh hurriedly cycles home to go to part-time work. Day after day, his schedule is also “full” because of work. However, no matter the sun or rain, no matter how hard it is, Mr. Manh still perseveres with his small tea shop.
Despite the hardships, Mr. Manh and his wife Nhi still feel happy being together (Photo: NVCC).
Mr. Manh’s wife, Ms. Nguyen Ngan Nhi, both came to Japan in 2013 as international students. After every class, Ms. Nhi often goes to work at the supermarket while Mr. Manh works as a porter at the construction site.
When they first came to Japan, the couple had difficulty communicating, so they couldn’t find a simple job, trying to earn some money to cover living expenses. In 2015, the two returned to Vietnam to worry about getting married.
“During a wedding invitation at a relative’s house, I happened to see my aunt and uncle’s long-standing tea shop, which was very crowded. At that time, my husband and I suddenly thought about whether we should start a business in Japan with strong snacks. “I don’t have this Vietnamese quality and I “risked” asking my aunt to show me the recipe for making sweet soup,” Ms. Nhi said.
After the wedding, the couple immediately went to the market, gathered ingredients and then boarded a plane to Japan with 80kg of luggage to cook sweet soup. In Japan, Ms. Nhi practiced making sweet soup every day, sent it to her friends to eat, and when she achieved a delicious taste, she started posting it online to sell.
Honesty and enthusiasm help the couple win the sympathy of customers (Photo: NVCC).
“It was very difficult at that time. I was still pregnant so I couldn’t work outside the home. We went to school and sold tea both online and at the train station. After 6 months of selling tea, my husband and I sold another one.” Another dish was sticky rice,” she recalled.
Seeing that sticky rice and tea products were increasingly supported, Ms. Nhi and Mr. Manh decided to quit all part-time jobs to focus on starting a business.
Starting a business: Owning a business abroad
The business “succumbed”, the young couple decided to open a small restaurant in 2017, specializing in serving dishes such as sticky rice, sweet soup, fried spring rolls, grilled meat vermicelli, etc. Every day, the restaurant serves 350- 400 meals with diners coming in and out continuously.
“We were very lucky that as soon as we opened, many customers, especially compatriots far away from home, came to support us. My husband and I always remember the scene of having to wash dishes until dawn, resting at 4 a.m. and then continuing to get up at 7 a.m. to go to the market. , preparing ingredients for the next sale. Even though it’s hard, I feel extremely happy in my heart,” Ms. Nhi said, smiling.
Customers lined up at the fast food restaurant of Ms. Nhi and her husband (Photo: NVCC).
Gradually, there were so many customers that Manh and Nhi decided to hire more employees, prioritizing Vietnamese people, to create jobs for their compatriots. By 2020, the couple opened a karaoke bar and a fast food restaurant specializing in sticky rice, sweet soup and bread.
In 2022, the young couple’s fourth restaurant in Japan was also born. Not only Vietnamese, many Japanese diners, American and Australian tourists also stop and visit here. Nhi and her husband’s restaurant was even filmed by a Japanese television channel.
“During the process of starting a business, in addition to revenue, we also accumulated many memorable memories. Among them, I remember the most are the times when the employees in the shop worked together all night long, drinking together. rice, cooking sticky rice in a foreign country, the atmosphere is close and warm, like being in the middle of family,” Ms. Nhi said.
Vietnamese tea shop owners create jobs for many compatriots (Photo: NVCC).
From those beautiful memories, Ms. Nhi and Mr. Manh confided that not only the couple but also the staff at the restaurant felt warm when they had to leave their homeland and struggle to make money abroad.
“Looking back now, we feel very proud of our hard-earned achievements. In the near future, I hope that business will go well and we can open another store in a major center of Japan.” , partly to promote Vietnamese cuisine in foreign countries, partly to create more job opportunities for fellow countrymen,” Ms. Nhi thought.
