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“In other restaurants, customers
cannot know how much they need to
eat to be healthy, but in our restaurant,
they know,” Hien explains.
Waiters at Sy Phu restaurants never
suggest customers eat more. “Of course
they can have more, but we always
suggest them that the set we offer is
enough,” says Hien.
Back in 2003, before the chain was
founded, Hien’s sister, Hanh, went to
Taiwan for business and there she ate
Japanese Shabu Shabu hot pot. She im-
mediately fell in love with this kind of
hotpot and she set out to learn how to
make it. She went to see the restaurant
owner and asked him for the secret of
the hotpot. At the beginning, the Tai-
wanese man did not believe in her, but
seeing her enthusiasm, he decided to
give her a month of training. However,
a month proved unnecessary and she
left after just 10 days.
When Hanh returned to Vietnam
she cooked the hotpot for her family.
One day, a relative asked why Hanh
did not introduce this strange hotpot to
other people. It was then that the idea
of going into business was formed.
For three months, Hanh worked
on how to combine the hotpot in Tai-
wan with a Vietnamese style hotpot.
After friends and family members fell
in love with the dish, she decided to
make it for others to enjoy and the Sy
Phu chain began.
Today, Sy Phu is one of the most
popular places to eat for those who are
careful about their health and there are
now five Sy Phu restaurants in Hanoi.
“We know that stopping is a back-
ward step so we have to continue de-
veloping. We are planning to develop
other restaurants in other provinces
such as Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Hai
Duong and Hung Yen in the next two
years,” Hien says.
In order to lay the best foundation
for this expansion, Hanh and Hien have
put systems in place at all the existing
restaurants and worked with a profes-
sional strategic partner to develop the
Sy Phu brand name. Now, Hanh and
Hien are dreaming of taking the Sy Phu
brand beyond Vietnam’s borders and
into Cambodia and Myanmar.
THE INSIDER
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