Fish Sauce – Vietnam’s No.1 Best-Selling Elite Seasoning on Amazon
Top Vietnamese traditional fish sauce exporter on Amazon: We are about to explore the Chinese market, aiming for the mission of bringing fish sauce to the world table
With 10 years of experience in “fighting” in the US – Canada market, although many people think that traditional fish sauce is difficult to have a place in a soy sauce ‘worship’ place like China, the founder of Pacific Foods still decided. explore this market. Because this is an important milestone he needs to conquer to complete his mission of ‘bring fish sauce to the world’s table’.
Vietnam is the best fish sauce producer in the world
Vietnam is the best fish sauce producer in the world. Currently, Japan, Korea, China – in areas near the sea like Hainan, there is fish sauce production. The Philippines produces a lot of fish sauce, but Filipinos love Vietnamese fish sauce. I went through this country, saw in supermarkets, local people buy a lot of Vietnamese fish sauce.
Large-scale but delicious production is unique to Vietnam. Thai people also produce fish sauce but it is not on a large scale and not as delicious as Vietnam. Many Thai companies come to Vietnam to buy fish sauce for the mass production of industrial fish sauce. However, there is a Thai company that can sell 1,000 containers a month. That’s a huge amount!
It was that concern that made him determined to attack the Chinese market, although many people think that people here just like to eat soy sauce, not fish sauce. His reasoning is: in the past, Chinese people only liked to drink tea, but after Vietnamese coffee came in, they also loved coffee and they even ate Vietnamese pho. In addition, when Linh’s Chinese friends come to Vietnam, they also like to eat fish sauce.
A journey of more than 10 years bringing Vietnamese spices – especially fish sauce to the US and the mission of bringing Vietnamese fish sauce around the world
On the other hand, Pacific Foods’ raw material source is from Phan Thiet – specifically, brewing chuop in Tuy Phong district – Binh Thuan, plus some other regions. For example, if they don’t have enough supplies, they will get more from Phu Quoc. As we all know, depending on the region, anchovies are caught and then brewed in different ways, which will produce different types of fish sauce.
Pacific Foods’ fish sauce also does the way many people in the profession do: brewing with the ratio of 80% fish – 20% salt and it takes from 12 to 18 months to make fish sauce.
“Actually, I’ve been coming to fish sauce and exporting offline for more than 10 years. It’s been a very hard process!
Once when I went to the US, I was introduced to a Vietnamese owner who had a very large Vietnamese supermarket system, about 25 supermarkets. I like it very much, because there are many Vietnamese goods. The owner led me around, asked me what I could do with these, I said I could do any item. Then I saw him smile. I later found out why he was smiling, because all the big companies in Vietnam sold him.
After that, I went back and forth and had a few more visits with him. Once, he took me through a fish sauce store and pointed to the fish sauce currently selling number 1 on Amazon, Red Boat in Phu Quoc, and asked me about it. I said: ‘This one I made’. Before Red Boat became what it is today, this brand also outsources and one of their outsourcing facilities is my friend.
So when the owner of the supermarket I asked if he could produce a product of the same quality as Red Boat, I replied ‘yes’. This story took place around 2008-2010 and I came to the fish sauce business from there,” said Mr. Le Ba Linh.
Linh’s first shipments were returned. Not to mention the extremely strict import regulations of the US Government, customers are the first to test our products. Customers feel good because they just bought. Linh used to export goods through this market 5 times 7 times, but the importer still said it failed. After the importer said that his product passed, the business continued to face FDA barriers.
If you want to have FDA standards, the factory must have HACCP and ISO first. Fortunately, they have suppliers that apply these two standards from the start, so the FDA registration is not long to complete. Selling in the US for a while, Mr. Linh feels that Thai products compete with him very fiercely. Then when his business was about to sign a contract to export 100 containers a month, the ‘Arsen scandal’ broke out and they were forced to stop. At that time, the whole world thought: all fish sauce coming from the sea of Vietnam is contaminated with Arsenic.
Due to specializing in export and having the mindset to follow the world’s consumption trends, Pacific Foods’ products have less salinity and strong odor than traditional pure fish sauce sold in the country.
“Our fish sauce is mainly exported to the US and Canada, with 70% white and the remaining 30% being Vietnamese and Asian. So we had to reduce the salinity and taste again.
I have been researching to reduce salinity naturally without using world approved flavor enhancers, but with no success. Since the required amount of salt is a must, having more salt helps the fish ‘ripe’ and destroys the micro-organisms in the fish, in order to create a better fish sauce.
Moreover, in my opinion, the flavor enhancer in fish sauce is essential, because when we bottle it, if we leave it for too long, only pure fish sauce will reduce the salinity and keep the protein level, there will be mold. or bacteria – not good for health. So we need to follow new consumption trends. Should accept fish sauce gently and ensure food safety and hygiene.
Besides, we have our own method to reduce the smell. One of the ways to reduce odor is distillation, condensation to get the juice. European and American consumers do not use it for dipping, but as a condiment to cook or marinate meat to make barbecue dishes. When taking fish sauce to marinate lamb, it will help reduce the smell of sheep a lot.
In terms of quality, our point of view: whether exported or sold domestically, the quality should be the same. The first condition to enter people’s hearts, in terms of quality, must be the best, regardless of domestic or foreign markets,” said the founder of Pacific Foods.
Currently, this business has undergone more than a dozen changes in design and packaging to help users become more and more convenient when using their products. The story of continuous improvement is based on studying consumer behavior, such as whether they hold the product heavy, easy to transport, etc. When going out into the world, we need to make simple delicate packaging. simple.
“Each company has its own mission and ambition. Pacific Foods’ dream and ambition is always clear: constantly improving to produce products with the best designs, to have the opportunity to appear on the world’s dinner table. The mission that we set for ourselves is to be able to bring fish sauce around the world.In the future, chefs and culinary experts can say: when cooking something, there should be less Vietnamese fish sauce. Nam will taste better.
I hope that my fish sauce product can represent the country, not just my business. So, I’m always ready to share how to put fish sauce on e-commerce platforms – like Amazon, for all businesses in need. I am happy to do that. Don’t be afraid, both startups and established companies, come see me, I will share everything I know,” suggested Mr. Le Ba Linh.
Predestined relationship with Amazon and effective combat experiences on this platform
Before participating in the program of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Amazon in 2018, this business actually intended to participate in e-commerce, because it knew that it could not stay out of the trend of the world. In addition, if you do not have to be selected for the test program, it will be listed immediately, but Pacific Foods must undergo a long evaluation from the Ministry and Amazon.
When they first joined Amazon, they were at number one thousand, but after about 6 months, their rankings have increased significantly. Anh Linh said that we cannot bring goods to e-commerce platforms and leave them there, because they do not run by themselves. We have to carry out methodical marketing projects – like digital marketing. Pacific Foods has hired a company in the advertising field to take care of this issue, the partner will help businesses monitor and take care of customers regularly.
When we export through the online platform, because the US Customs has checked the quality of the goods, Amazon will not care about that problem anymore. Amazon only cares if our business is transparent or not. Because of concerns about transparency, Amazon and the Ministry of Industry and Trade only choose companies, not individuals!
Contrary to the imagination, to verify transparency, Amazon checks quite simply, like whether the business pays electricity and water, how much each year, whether we work there or not. In addition, Amazon also checks to see if its account is in good condition, the revenue and expenditure is transparent or not. Pacific Foods had to go through 8 months of ‘challenging’ before being allowed by Amazon to ship through their warehouse.
Marina Nguyen
https://factory-offers.com/best-agricultural-products-from-vietnam/