Rice cake production at the Luong Son Food Production and Trading Co. Ltd.

Ambitious startup

Nguyen Ba Thang, Director of the Luong Son Food Production and Trading Co. Ltd. in Nhan Son Commune of Do Luong District told Vietnam Economic News that he founded his company in 2018 on an area of 1,000 square meters of land. His plan was to develop black sesame rice cakes, a favorite delicacy of Do Luong District, into international standard products for export and domestic sales.

Thang invested in modern workspaces with a complete production and packaging line to create products meeting food safety and hygiene standards.

However, the absence of preservatives and unstable techniques initially caused the rice cakes to crack during adverse weather changes and turn sour in rainy conditions. The company finally fixed the problems and has been granted a three-star OCOP (One Commune One Product) rating for its products.

Thang says his company is still making rice cakes according to the traditional method and combining it with the use of advanced technology in some production stages to meet food hygiene and safety and environmental standards.

Access to foreign markets

Director Thang gives priority to product information and origin transparency, which is important to sell to big supermarkets and clean food chains. Company products all have documentation related to product testing, quality announcement and QR code-based traceability.

Director Thang says the company provides 15 types of rice cake and has just successfully produced brown rice cakes.

Luong Son sesame rice cakes have been exported to Japan, the Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei, while a number of company products are being sold through digital platforms. The company has worked with 2,000 large and small agents and 350 collaborators to sell about 40 million products per year, yielding revenue of over VND14 billion (US$591,210).