{"id":949,"date":"2013-09-10T10:56:22","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T03:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/?p=949"},"modified":"2015-09-07T01:02:36","modified_gmt":"2015-09-06T18:02:36","slug":"cu-nhan-cong-nghe-bo-nghiep-ky-su-di-ban-chocolate-nghe-thuat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/cu-nhan-cong-nghe-bo-nghiep-ky-su-di-ban-chocolate-nghe-thuat\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology Graduate Gives Up Engineering Career to Sell Artisanal Chocolate."},"content":{"rendered":"

Selling chocolate is nothing new, so combining chocolate with art to attract customers is an exciting challenge for young businesses like D\u2019 Art Chocolate.<\/p>\n

Choose your own path<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening a gift box sent for Valentine's Day, Ms. Ng\u1ecdc Dung was astonished to find a beautifully designed milky-white chocolate... shoe that fit her foot perfectly. Even more surprisingly, it was made in Vietnam, crafted by the talented and skillful hands of young \u0110\u1ed7 Duy H\u1ea3i.<\/p>\n

After graduating in information technology from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, H\u1ea3i insisted on pursuing business rather than becoming an IT engineer as his parents intended. In 2008, he graduated in business administration in Canada and entered the restaurant industry. He gradually became involved in chocolate making and fell in love with the industry.<\/p>\n

Following a suggestion, in 2010 H\u1ea3i and a friend brought the artistic chocolate brand Graphics to Vietnam. After operating for some time, however, they disagreed on business views, and he decided to separate. In 2011, he established a company specializing in artistic chocolate under the D\u2019Art Chocolate brand. To date, Graphics and D\u2019Art Chocolate remain Vietnam\u2019s only two artistic chocolate producers, with comparable market shares.<\/p>\n

\"gieocamxuc38a2-15108\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A work made in Vietnam by the talented, skillful hands of \u0110\u1ed7 Duy H\u1ea3i<\/p>\n

Chocolate production is no longer new in Vietnam, but H\u1ea3i determined that winning customers requires combining delicious products with distinctive artistry. D\u2019Art Chocolate shapes chocolate according to the maker's creativity or customers' orders. With hundreds or thousands of possible designs, chocolate makers must understand chocolate-making techniques and appreciate beauty and subtlety to create artistic chocolate products.<\/p>\n

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Although it is a sweet gift, chocolate must be elevated into a source of inspiration for the recipient<\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

When starting out, H\u1ea3i's greatest difficulty was capital, because chocolate-making machinery had to be imported from Europe at considerable cost. Even a single pot for melting chocolate cost up to USD 2,000. H\u1ea3i had to import all the ingredients for fine chocolate from Barry Callebaut (Belgium)...<\/p>\n

The initial investment had reached 15 billion \u0111\u1ed3ng, and H\u1ea3i set a target of recovering it within 3 years. But that was not all. Producing artistic chocolate was far from easy.<\/p>\n

To make chocolate beautiful, smooth, glossy, delicious and crisp\u2026, the maker must work quickly and skillfully. Slow handling causes uneven color and a lack of crispness, while temperature must be adjusted for different stages. Chocolate entrepreneurs must therefore also be experts in the craft.<\/p>\n

Think long term<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its early days, D\u2019Art Chocolate found it fairly easy to introduce its products to individual and corporate customers, because artistic chocolate made suitable gifts for holidays and conferences. Many banks and businesses ordered D\u2019Art Chocolate as gifts. Some companies ordered 500\u20131,000 gift boxes, or even 4,000.<\/p>\n

In 2012, economic difficulties continued, and many banks and businesses cut their gift budgets. As a result, D\u2019Art Chocolate\u2019s sales last year were only half those of 2011, when the company was founded.<\/p>\n

Even so, H\u1ea3i was not discouraged. Because the products are mainly gifts catering to market demand at particular times, D\u2019Art Chocolate must constantly understand customer psychology and tastes and research the market carefully to launch suitable product lines. \u201cAlthough it is a sweet gift, chocolate must be elevated into an inspiration for those receiving it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we must always create new designs and work hard to please customers,\u201d H\u1ea3i shares. To plan for long-term business, he is also preparing to produce chocolate for everyday consumption to offer in supermarkets and convenience stores. This year, H\u1ea3i aims for artistic chocolate and everyday chocolate to account for 80% and 20% respectively, with the ratio reaching 50\/50 over the following 2 years.<\/p>\n

Alongside supplying the domestic market, H\u1ea3i also plans to export D\u2019Art Chocolate's artistic chocolates overseas. D\u2019Art Chocolate has already shipped its first order to South Korea. H\u1ea3i is also developing business in other markets, such as Japan and the Philippines\u2026 because these markets still lack artistic chocolate products.<\/p>\n

H\u1ea3i currently very much wants to expand investment, but raising capital is far from easy for a new business. Someone has also proposed buying the brand outright, but for H\u1ea3i, D\u2019Art Chocolate is a cherished creation and a passion, so he has not considered selling it.<\/p>\n

The road ahead for D\u2019Art Chocolate remains full of obstacles. Hopefully, H\u1ea3i's dedication will be duly rewarded by consumers and the market. Who knows\u2014perhaps one day soon, Vietnam will have a world-class artistic chocolate brand?<\/p>\n

Source: Di\u1ec5n \u0111\u00e0n doanh nghi\u1ec7p<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kinh doanh chocolate kh\u00f4ng m\u1edbi, ch\u00ednh v\u00ec th\u1ebf g\u1eafn chocolate v\u1edbi ngh\u1ec7 thu\u1eadt nh\u1eb1m thu h\u00fat kh\u00e1ch l\u00e0 m\u1ed9t th\u00e1ch th\u1ee9c th\u00fa v\u1ecb \u0111\u1ed1i v\u1edbi nh\u1eefng doanh nghi\u1ec7p tr\u1ebb nh\u01b0 D\u2019 Art Chocolate. Ch\u1ecdn l\u1ed1i \u0111i ri\u00eang M\u1edf h\u1ed9p qu\u00e0 g\u1eedi t\u1edbi nh\u00e2n ng\u00e0y l\u1ec5 T\u00ecnh nh\u00e2n, ch\u1ecb Ng\u1ecdc Dung h\u1ebft s\u1ee9c ng\u1ea1c nhi\u00ean v\u00ec […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bao-chi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5092,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions\/5092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}