What food is stocked at Vietnamese convenience stores?

Did you know Ministop has convenience stores in Vietnam? Look no further than social media to see Ministop’s overwhelming popularity in the country. Ministop Vietnam’s official Facebook page has nearly 200,000 likes and over 200,000 followers. What’s the secret to Ministop’s success? While all convenience stores boast a rich assortment of products, Ministop’s original products for the Vietnamese market truly set it apart.

Ministop has developed an original menu with familiar Japanese convenience store foods like onigiri, sushi, and hot snacks that are taste tested by Vietnamese staff to ensure products are localized to meet local taste preferences. In Vietnam, Ministop’s customer base is primarily Vietnamese. In addition to putting its own variations on Vietnamese dishes, Ministop has introduced Japanese food culture to Vietnam through a localized menu, which has helped Ministop stores to gain widespread popularity. One of Ministop’s unique products is its soft-serve ice cream, which is also a staple in Japan. Recently, Vietnam’s Ministop stores have begun sales of Hokkaido milk vanilla soft serve along with matcha-flavored soft serve made with green tea sourced from Shizuoka Prefecture.

After Sojitz began managing Ministop convenience stores in Vietnam, it introduced Japanese-style services such as on-site utility bill payment to increase convenience for Vietnamese residents in their daily lives. Ministop stores have expanded beyond downtown shopping districts with new locations in residential condominiums and near schools.

Have you heard of four-temperature cold chain logistics?

Do you want to know the secret behind delivering delicious chocolate in Vietnam? The answer: four-temperature cold chain logistics. The four temperatures include: fixed temperature (10℃-20℃), room temperature (dry), refrigerated (chilled), and frozen. Cold chain logistics allow specific temperatures to be maintained during transport and storage. Food distribution in Vietnam often used old-fashioned cooling methods such as packing food products in Styrofoam containers with ice packs. In 2016, Sojitz opened a four-temperature cold chain logistics center together with a Vietnamese logistics company and other partners. Trucks for each temperature type exist, making it possible to maintain consistent temperatures from storage to store delivery.

Employee education is key

Not only is it important to maintain fixed temperatures at food warehouses, but also to educate truck drivers who will deliver products from warehouses to convenience stores and supermarkets. The driver must load products from the warehouse sorted by route and then deliver these goods to multiple stores. In order to make reliable deliveries, truck drivers must be sure to confirm the truck’s container has not been left open and to check the truck’s temperature meter. Educating drivers directly improves the level of logistics. It is essential that logistics be up to speed and correctly operated, particularly for convenience stores like Ministop with a wide array of products.

Original onigiri and sandwich products

Through its management of Ministop convenience stores, Sojitz is introducing Vietnam to a new culture of food. Did you know that Sojitz is not only involved in store operations and expansion, but also operates plants that manufacture prepared foods?

Manufacturing plants produce onigiri, sandwiches, and bento box lunches for supermarkets and convenience stores in Vietnam, including Ministop. It is difficult for convenience stores to differentiate themselves from their competitors by selling standard sweets and beverages. However, Ministop has distinguished itself through an original food and dessert menu that showcases the company’s originality. Ministop’s original menu calls for a manufacturing plant to develop these new products in the country. Furthermore, Sojitz and its partners are optimizing the production process through manufacturing and processing experience acquired in Japan; maintaining hygienic conditions in plants using specialized technology that prevents bacterial growth; preserving the freshness of vegetables with washing and heating processes; and utilizing specialized processes for packaging. Through these efforts, Sojitz aims to improve the level of food manufacturing and processing in Vietnam.

Original instant noodles developed for Vietnam

Interestingly, the best-selling products in Vietnamese cities differ from those in rural areas. For example, when Sojitz’s subsidiary Huong Thuy first began sales of an instant noodle product, consumers in rural areas complained that the noodles did not soften after adding hot water.

Further investigation into the instant noodle issue revealed that Vietnamese farmers do not boil water multiple times a day, Instead, it is customary to boil a large tub of water to be used throughout the day. The researchers found that by lunchtime the water’s temperature had cooled to approximately 60°C. Huong Thuy took this customer feedback on instant noodles seriously by working with Japanese manufacturers to create noodles suitable for rural lifestyles that could be cooked at 60° to 70°C. In addition, while urban populations are increasingly choosing cup noodles, people in rural areas still overwhelmingly prefer packaged noodles. Ministop conducts product development and features products in its stores based on this type of customer feedback.