I WILL TAKE MY PHỞ STALL AROUND THE WORLD
“Will you take your phở cart around the world?” The words of her Japanese teacher inspired her Phở 25 brand, and they were also his final words before the 2012 tsunami took away the teacher she deeply respected.
From the material and emotional pain it brought. I seemed to see in her—a woman old enough to be my mother—a strange magnetism and intense love for Vietnamese cuisine. That is why I wrote the story of Mai Hà Trà Dung.
She attended a performing arts school but did not pursue a film career, instead turning to business when she discovered that sales suited her better
At 35, she worked at Hitachi. This was where a fateful meeting with a Japanese mentor began her guidance in business. During this period, 1 sudden shock took her family from having everything to having nothing. She entered a crisis, carrying both debts and 1 unborn child.
The crisis stage: she sold her house to repay debt, was pregnant, and faced the question of how to provide for her family if she earned only a company salary. Confronting this emotional collapse was 1 stronger self: “What does not kill you makes you stronger.” That was her thinking at the time.
In 1994, with 100,000 dong in her pocket. ‘Tết is almost here; what can I do to earn money for the family?’ This thought began her journey selling ‘all sorts of things’ during that period. She traded in anything she could think of, from kerosene to heart-and-liver porridge.
As she recounted this, I could almost feel the sharpness and joy in her eyes when she spoke about food, and the ever-open smile she offered the person before her. In those days, she had to rise at 3 AM to prepare a pot of porridge and avoid the shame of others' judgmental looks. Yet she did not face this for long: her neighbors, from children to adults, did not stigmatize her but instead supported and helped her. Her happiest memory from selling porridge was that the pot sold out completely in 1 day
The challenges began again: people would support her 1 or a few times, but not forever. Back then, they did not eat much porridge in the morning. That also meant she had to think of 1 other way to make money.
Around the same time, she heard that a friend had cancer and was in hospital. When she arrived, she learned her friend had little time left and wished only for one final bowl of phở, but could not afford it. This was the beginning of the promise she made to herself: ‘If I sell phở, I will sell it at any price so poor people can eat it too!’ With her last VND 20,000 in hand, she gave it all to the unfortunate woman's son so he could buy phở for his mother. She returned with a head full of questions.
At that time, phở had been named among the 12 best dishes in the world's cultural heritage!
1995: She took a chance and borrowed 2 chỉ of gold from relatives to open a phở shop. She began drawing on her earlier experience to develop her own phở recipe. She honed her skills by “selling phở in the morning and learning the craft at a well-known local phở shop in the afternoon.”
Through many turbulent years, she and her family moved repeatedly, eventually reaching their 9th home. From there, fortune smiled on her, as the phở shop in that location offered many business advantages. She then fulfilled her earlier vow: “I will sell phở to everyone so that poor people can eat it too.”
2011 was when Phở 24 sold its brand to foreign owners. She could not help feeling regret for a homegrown phở brand and began nurturing the idea of a brand to replace Phở 24. That was also why she named her own brand Phở 25. Today, she can live comfortably from other sidelines in real estate, but continues selling phở because it is her passion. She also wants to expand the Phở 25 brand in the future.
2012, the final phone call with her Japanese teacher—she told me with tears in her eyes. These were the final words of the teacher she had always respected: “Can you take your phở stall around the world?” The question filled her with inspiration and strong belief—why not? She was no longer very young, but still had determination and hope. As long as people have those things, anything is possible. Yet from then on, she never received another call from this teacher. From that point, she set out on her own to find answers to the question: what makes the Phở 25 brand different? The answer she found lay in its model, flavor and service
2012–2014, the following two years. She decided to spend time learning business knowledge and how to own a restaurant. During this period, Japanese students studying abroad brought her tragic news: her Japanese teacher had lost his life in the earthquake and tsunami disaster at the time of that final call. Once again, she suffered the loss of someone very important to her. She fell into a state of “imbalance.” She now seemed to have lost her most important living source of guidance—the guidance that had accompanied her on a long journey. And now she stood before “unclear” paths, unable to tell which was which.
“If you do not know the way, keep moving forward. You may meet other teachers who can guide you farther along this path. It was also because of her respected Japanese teacher that she chose to continue, as a way of honoring him. The road ahead will open on its own. Keep going, and you will certainly arrive!”
That was also when she found YUP! From then on, her path opened up much more widely.
It began when Dr. Nguyễn Nhã agreed to mentor her project and help introduce Vietnamese phở to international friends. Professor Trần Văn Khê also agreed to support her Phở 25 brand. Now, her path seems to be opening onto 1 new chapter.
Could Vietnam have a Phở 25 brand replacing Phở 24 in the future? Let us wait and see. Whatever happens, I still believe this determined woman has many lessons for young aspiring entrepreneurs like us. Here, however, I will write the most important lesson she wishes to share with you.
Lesson:
Whatever profession you want to start a business in, understand it thoroughly
People become more prone to jealousy when one becomes wealthy
If you want to grow big, first pay off your debts
And Now, Having Accomplished Those 3 Things, ‘I Am Ready to Carry My Phở Stall Around the World,’ She Shared.
