With nearly 30 years of family tradition behind her, Ms. Luu Khanh My, owner of My Yen Sausage Facility in Tan Phu A Hamlet, Dong Phuoc Commune, Can Tho City, has professionalized sausage production and expanded her market. For her, inheriting the trade is more than just preserving a recipe, it is a commitment to ensuring quality and food safety to build lasting consumer trust.

Ms. Luu Khanh My presents her products at a trade networking event.

Preserving the family trade

The sausage-making trade began for Ms. Luu Khanh My through family stories. Nearly 30 years ago, her parents started making sausages to earn a living. Seeing their desire to expand the business despite struggling with procedures, market access and a lack of formal business knowledge, Ms. Luu Khanh My decided to take over the family trade, despite holding a stable job at a bank.

After several discussions with her family, she made the leap in 2016. During the first six months, she spent her time  learning about regulations, the procedures for registering a household business, the requirements for a production facility and the paperwork for product registration. She also learned about ingredients, recipes, and production processes at the same time.

Ms. Luu Khanh My understood that a good product alone does not guarantee market success. To grow, the facility needed standardized processes, strict compliance with production standards and an efffective customer engagement.

In 2018, upon learning about the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program, she began to research and prepare the application. It was an opportunity for the facility to meet the criteria, strengthen product credibility and join trade promotion activities.

In 2019, the facility's sausage product earned 4-star OCOP recognition. In 2021, it was further recognized as an Outstanding Rural Industrial Product at the provincial level (former Hau Giang Province).

According to Ms. Luu Khanh My, the true value of OCOP is not just about the title but also in the chance to join trade fairs, exhibitions, product showcases and to connect with customers. For a developing brand, trade promotion support and heightened brand recognition are essential for market expansion.

Quality Builds Trust

Ms. Luu Khanh My believes that the uniqueness of the product lies not only by the ingredient ratio or the processing method, but also by the balance between sweetness, softness, richness and aroma. The family still maintains the traditional method using its signature recipe to create the sausage's aroma. This is an important element to preserve as the product grows.

For a processed meat product, Ms. Luu Khanh My regards food safety and hygiene as a consistent requirement. The facility prioritizes traceable meat sources that are strictly checked before being used in production.

The facility also focuses on investing in machinery and equipment for processing, preservation and packaging. Using machinery helps standardize certain stages, reduce dependence on manual operations and meet production demand. The facility currently employs 6 regular workers, expanding to 10-12 during peak seasons.

However, Ms. Luu Khanh My noted that investing in quality creates cost pressures. The finished product is priced at no less than VND 110,000/kg, while on the market there are products offered at significantly lower prices. This price gap often leads consumers to make comparisons without fully understanding the quality of the ingredients and the production process.

Despite competitive pressure, Ms. Luu Khanh My does not chase the low-price segment by changing ingredients or recipes that do not fit the facility's direction. Starting with dried pork sausage, the facility has gradually developed additional lines such as fresh, beef, chicken, shrimp and salted egg sausages. Diversification mainly comes from customer demand, but she still identifies the traditional product line as the core focus.

Currently, the facility's market is focused on Can Tho, An Giang, Ho Chi Minh City and several other localities. Wholesale channels, shops, retail points and corporate customers are important sources of consumption.

In addition, she puts more emphasis on retail, customer care and online channel development. The facility has launched sales on TikTok, hosted livestreams and built content to introduce its products. According to Ms. Luu Khanh My, revenue is not the top priority in the initial stage but helping consumers better understand the brand, the process and the dedication behind the craft.

The facility has also approached several modern retail systems to introduce its products. Still, she believes expansion must go hand in hand with quality control capacity and order fulfillment capability and cannot happen too quickly when conditions are not yet ready.

For Ms. Luu Khanh My, the ultimate goal is not just selling more sausages, but offering consumers a trusted, high-quality choice for a familiar traditional dish. From a family recipe, she is gradually turning the traditional craft into a more professional business model.

NAM HUONG (Translated by MAI QUYEN)