“Customers mainly buy animal bread as gifts or for children in the house. The price of the bread ranges from 20,000 VND to 80,000 VND/bread,” Mr. Tung said.
Once causing a “fever”, gradually losing customers after 2 years
Talking to reporters, Mr. Thien Thanh said his family has had a tradition of making bread for more than 30 years and has many bread shops in the Western provinces. Two years ago, his family opened a bakery in Ho Chi Minh City, specializing in making animal-shaped bread.
To attract customers, his bakery produces many types of bread in many different sizes. However, the most popular are bread shaped like crocodiles, shrimp, crabs…
However, Mr. Thanh also confided that his family decided to close the bakery in Ho Chi Minh City, to focus on developing and expanding stores in the West.
“When I first opened the store in Ho Chi Minh City, I stayed to manage it. However, later, I had to return to An Giang to live and manage other branches, so business in Ho Chi Minh City also decreased.
Initially, the shop sold nearly 600 cakes/day, but now it only sells about 200 cakes/day. So this June, I will probably close and move the facility in Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho,” Mr. Thanh said.
Mr. Thien Thanh is planning to expand the scale of his animal-shaped bread business in the West (Photo: Provided by the character).
Mr. Thanh added that currently, his family has 7 bread ovens in the provinces of Vinh Long, Dong Thap, An Giang and Can Tho, each with about a dozen workers. He often moves between provinces to manage bakeries.
“I have a main baker. When this baker creates a new shape or a new way of making bread, he will go to the ovens to instruct other bakers. In each oven in the Western provinces, the bread is shaped Animals sell about 300-400 cakes/day,” Mr. Thanh said.
Mr. Thanh also expressed his desire to maintain and develop his family’s traditional bread making profession, while also bringing new experiences to diners.
Some customers who came to buy bread said they came here partly out of curiosity, partly because they were regular customers who wanted to buy it as gifts for children. Ms. Thu Nga (born 1972, District 11) stopped by the oven to buy a giant crocodile cake for her children and grandchildren. Ms. Nga commented: “The big crocodile was made very meticulously. The cake is also very crispy and fragrant. I like it very much.”
Ms. Thanh Thuy (born 2001, Tan Binh district) shared that she came to buy it because she was curious about the “super big” crocodile bread, so she wanted to try it and take photos.
“The loaf of bread is very large and meticulously shaped, so it’s very eye-catching. However, buying bread for nearly 100,000 VND is a bit expensive, so we probably just bought it to try it out this time,” Ms. Thuy said.