Processing fish mint for export

Fish mint is not only consumed commonly in the daily meals of Vietnamese but it is also considered a medicinal herbal ingredient good for human health.

Starting business with fish mint

I met Truong The Tien, Director of Isito Food Company Limited by chance when he was visiting Chau Thanh,one of the largest  vegetable cultivation areas of Tien Giang province. At that time Tien was making plan to process fish mint into healthy products.

Tien said excitedly: “Fresh mint is not only a vegetable we can eat raw but it can also be mixed with tea or wine to become healthy products. We have successfully produced fish mint essence by using advanced hydrolysis technology via an exclusive close process. Therefore the valuable active ingredients in the fresh vegetables can be kept in the finished products. In addition, their medicinal properties can be easily and safely taken as supplements.”

After graduated from Sai Gon University with his efforts Tien became a deputy director at a technology company. However with a desire of making something unique for Vietnamese farm produce which he cherished more than ten years ago he bravely quitted the dream job to start a business with agricultural products.

Tien said it was not easy to become a successful business with agricultural products. Before reaching success as today he failed multiple times because he lacked skills and experiences in this field. Noteworthy he went bankrupt when investing in growing stevia for natural sweetener that could be used as an alternative to industrial sugar. Nearly 100 hectares of his stevia plants died as the field was submerged after heavy rains. Besides, his investment in machinery that did not fit to his production line forced him to repair over and over. Eventually he had to sell out the equipment as scrap.

Tien couldn’t accept failure. He researched and found out that many vegetable products made in the way the Japanese make green tea powder have become popular for customers. He realized that these products had great potential to develop because Vietnam has many large vegetable cultivation areas with a diversity of leafy greens which drove him to embark on researches to create a powder product of his own brand.

Before founding Isito Food Company Limited in 2018, Truong The Tien worked in the field of production research and trade for many year. The products made from fish mint were considered as an important step in Tien’s journey to win the domestic and international consumers’ hearts. According to Tien fish mint plant is easy to grow. The plant contains organic acids which not only make the sour for dinks but also help produce products with a longer life span as the acidic environment can keep products from microorganism and molds. These useful organic acids also help prevent sugar intake in body, thereby reducing risks of obesity, diabetes and stomach diseases.

“Today, consumers more and more pay great attention to their health so they tend to choose healthy and safe food products. In particular for busy people who have no time to make healthier meals, convenient food made from fresh mint will satisfy a strong market demand," sai Tien.

Tien said to learn from failure he decided to methodically and scientifically carry out investment right from the start to better control the quality of input raw materials and to create added value products as well as competitive advantages in the market. He also continually sought ways to promote and introduce Vietnamese farm produce in the global market.

After three years of investing, researching and setting up from growing to processing, Tien has so far owned  a five-hectare fish mint farm certified to the USDA and EU standards and two factories on a total area of 3,000 square meters in Ho Chi Minh City which are extracting fish mint essence for making powder, functional food and drinks.

New approach

The success of processing fish mint paved the way for Tien to focus on producing other products such as herbal masks, herbal acne cream, Moringa oil essence, healthy food products and many natural cosmetics. Isito company's annual turnover reached VND30 billion.

In particular, the company's eco-friendly straws made from vegetable powder resonated in the market. However amid the coronavirus pandemic Isito have to cancel this project.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Tien took advantage of his knowledge of technology to change the business strategy. Tien quickly adopted digital transformation technology in operations. "I decided to shift from offline to online commerce. I developed an exclusive mobile application for our collaborators by setting up a dropship model. The business model can make good use of abundant human resources like KOLs, students and website administrators," Tien said.

Regarding Isito's development goal in the near future Tien said: "As a business, we must pay attention to not only our own benefits but also the benefits of our employees, the benefits of our partners and the benefits of our consumers. Only when the benefits of the four groups are guaranteed can enterprises achieve sustainable development goals. After three failures we always keep in mind that we are ready to face failure so we can come up with many backup plans in case the worse should happen".

Tien added he hoped the company can resume operations soon to reconnect with fish mint farmers and cooperatives. He is planning to launch new products from Hetox brand including fish mint essence and herbal hair shampoo.

As surging demand for raw materials and with the aim of producing high-quality products, Isito Food Company Limited has connected with garden owners to grow fish mint plant in Tien Giang province, committing to buy all fish mint grown by them. Isito also aims to make essence products from Isito brand such as fish mint essence, herbal coffee become popular in domestic market with around one million regular consumers. The company made plan to open its branches in developed countries like Singapore, South Korea, Germany and the United States of America to promote sustainable values of Vietnamese herbal products in the international market," Tien said proudly.