Innovation

Khai Minh’s mission is to help customers improve their health by having good organic foods suitable with the digestive process. Macrobiotics is the process used by Khai Minh. This method was developed by a Japanese philosopher named George Ohsawa and the main material is brown rice. It is rich in proteins, fiber and selenium thanks to the side hulls and brans. Although people know that brown rice is healthier, it seems to be less tasty than white rice. Many people cannot eat brown rice everyday just by cooking it traditionally. Khai Minh offers a variety of options for customers to choose other food processed from organic brown rice, e.g. brown rice noodles, brown rice pancakes, brown rice spring rolls, or gruel.

At the moment, they are the only restaurants in Vietnam selling various dishes made from this special ingredient. There are some books placed at the restaurants and these books introduce the definition and main concepts of macrobiotics. All products offered at Khai Minh are committed to be cooked within one day and they do not use sugar or monosodium glutamate. Customers are encouraged to learn how to cook by themselves and Mr. Vien will consult on what they should eat depending on their health. The mission of Khai Minh is to provide high-quality foods for people to have a sound body, balanced emotions and a gentle mind.

Inspiration

Mr. Vien said that "When I started the business, there were no customers who came to my restaurant. I had to give the foods to poor people and eat alone for months. Sometimes I doubted about the potential of this niche market, but I believed that people always care for their health. Therefore if Khai Minh continues to produce good quality foods, one day the people would acknowledge the benefits of brown rice and change their eating habits to use it instead of white rice."

After one year in business with losses, Khai Minh started to have customers who lived near the restaurant and were curious about the special food made from brown rice. Mr. Vien explained the transformations: "Some of them recovered from their illness after eating brown rice for few weeks. In some special cases, patients who got cancer were now able to live as a normal person. They told me that macrobiotics changed their life, it not only helped them to treat the physical illness but it also supported them to have a sound mind. These magical stories spread by word of mouth and more and more customers started to come to Khai Minh. Furthermore, some celebrities eating macrobiotics shared their experiences on social media. As a result, their followers knew about Khai Minh and wanted to try our brown rice. Then some of them became frequent customers who now eat at Khai Minh everyday".

Overall impact

The recent scandals of unsafe food in Vietnam have provoked critical concerns about the negative impacts it may cause to people’s health. Farmers use banned chemicals to shorten the planting and breeding time. It changes the genes' structure and therefore causes several serious diseases including cancer. People in big cities understand these issues but they do not have enough time and resources to produce food by themselves. Khai Minh provides rich nutrients and organic foods which ensure healthy lives by using brown rice as the main material. In most Asian countries and in Vietnam in particular, when people say “to eat” they mean “to eat rice.” Nowadays, white rice is more popular than any other rice because its color is well blended with general taste. However there is a loss in nutrients when people remove the envelope and polish the kernel. Based on extensive scientific research, brown rice proves to be a highly nutritious food, high in fiber and gluten-free. People who eat brown rice instead of white rice have lower rates of having cardiovascular disease, a three-year study published in American Heart Journal revealed. Besides, brown rice also includes many different types of iron like phosphorus, selenium, and manganese. These agents support turning proteins and carbohydrates into energy, therefore it can help people avoid some serious diseases like diabetes or high cholesterol levels. Moreover, brown rice contains selenium, which can reduce the risk of cancer. To sum up, Khai Minh has uncovered a healthy way of eating macrobiotics to let everything be allowed to do what it naturally does.

Business benefit

Khai Minh opened their first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City since 2012 and now they have 3 additional restaurants: one in Tan Binh District, one in Binh Thanh District and one in Phu Yen.

Their menu has diversified both in quality and quantity, not only in the main ingredient brown rice but also in other nutritious components from vegetables. By offering a balance and healthy meal, Khai Minh has now loyal consumers and attracts also new customers who care about eating healthy habit. Recently, Mr Vien – CEO of Khai Minh also cooperated with Master Qidong to open breathing and meditation class in the sole aim of building a physical and emotional lifestyle for their customers. Thanks to bringing a healthy meal and habit to consumers, Khai Minh has succeeded in facilitating customers' engagement by this creating customers' loyalty. Although, running these restaurants with the main ingredients - organic foods without preservatives can prove to be expensive and perishable. Mr Vien may consider adjusting the cost of raw material and their sale price, finding healthy preservation methods in order to ensure the profitability of Khai Minh.

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Social and environmental benefit

Nowadays, people are busy and sometimes we have to trade the health to get success in life because we do not have enough time to take care of ourselves. Khai Minh offers a balanced solution for people to facilitate both in building their healthy lifestyles and successes. Adapting their business strategy in a harmony with social and natural benefit, they are successful in raising customer awareness and reducing human footprints on destroying our environment.

Taking customers to a vegetarian lifestyle can contribute to less air contamination and put less pressure on our natural resources. As our worldwide population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, a movement towards a vegetarian lifestyle can be considered as an effective solution to reduce environmental pollution and completely vital to the survival of animals. Remarkably, the nourishing and feeding process for creatures before slaughtering their life has brought about these inconceivable wastes because of requiring less water, land, and fossil demands. Barrionuevo, A. (2009) stated that 60% of deforestation all over the world has been utilized for the use of grazing cattle nourishing. Thus, raising animals for nourishment purpose must be taken into account in the aim of rescuing animal habitats.

By highlighting these advantages of eating brown rice and vegetables on their main strategy, Khai Minh has succeeded in raising customers' awareness in terms of choosing plant-based food because of a wide range of health, economic, and ethical benefits of being vegan. A significant number of Khai Minh customers said that the most successful way to become a long-term vegan is to do so gradually. Most vegans were vegetarians first, and gradually made the transition into veganism. At Khai Minh restaurants, customers are encouraged to share their experiences and food recipes with other people. By applying word of mouth and advertisement marketing strategy on social media, Khai Minh has taken a successful step on changing our social mindsets from animal-based products to plant-based products in their daily meals.

Interview

Dang Ngoc Vien, Mr