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After closing his struggling restaurant in the US, Chad returned to Vietnam for a fresh start. His VND88,000 ($3.30) banh mi now draws long queues and can sell out within 30 minutes.
Chad once owned a restaurant in the United States. When the business failed to work out, he decided to close it and return to Vietnam, where he is now selling banh mi.
Dang Thi Trinh said she discovered the shop through a social media video and queued for about an hour to buy a sandwich.
Despite the relatively high price, she said the wait was worthwhile. For Trinh, Chad’s banh mi offers something new while retaining recognizably Vietnamese flavors through familiar ingredients such as cucumber, pickled vegetables and grilled meat. She said she would happily buy it three or four times a week.
Jackson, a customer from Sydney, Australia, waited around 45 minutes to try Chad’s banh mi.
Having grown up eating Vietnamese banh mi made by Sydney’s Vietnamese community, he said Chad’s version tasted fairly similar to the style he knew in Australia and suited his palate well. Although he has had limited experience with banh mi in Vietnam itself, Jackson said he still prefers the Sydney style.
Although the price has prompted considerable discussion on social media, Chad said customers who actually try the sandwich generally feel it offers good value.
One of the biggest challenges for him has been learning to grill over charcoal.
Because he faced restrictions on using charcoal grills while working in the restaurant business in the US, Chad had to teach himself the technique after returning to Vietnam, practicing every day to improve the food.
He has no intention of competing with people who make traditional Vietnamese dishes, nor does he want simply to reproduce them.
Instead, Chad wants to draw inspiration from Vietnamese cuisine while bringing his own personality and experience into every dish he makes.
While preparing and selling the sandwiches, Chad regularly livestreams the entire process.
He said the approach grew out of lessons learned from running his restaurant in the US, where his social media marketing had not been particularly effective.
For Chad, livestreaming allows customers to see exactly how he works and prepares the food. That transparency, he believes, helps build trust and allows the brand to grow around a sense of authenticity.
Ha Thu Thuy, Chad’s wife, said the couple have been married for 15 years and together for nearly 18.
She said his decision to leave his chef job in the US and return to Vietnam to sell banh mi did not come as a major surprise. Chad, she said, has always been creative and decisive, with a strong desire for freedom.
Although his family initially opposed the decision, Thuy said she continued to support her husband.
What began as a tiny operation selling around 50 sandwiches a day with help from family members is already inspiring much bigger ambitions.
Chad is now looking toward expanding the business, with an eventual target of 1,000 banh mi a day.
For the moment, his record is much smaller - but telling: all 50 sandwiches sold out in just 30 minutes.
Tuan Hung
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