At just 26, Hồ Đức Hải is already CEO of the Bánh mì Má Hải chain, with a network of 3 stores, 47 kiosks, and 30 franchised kiosk locations. Guided by the principle of “living and working from the heart,” Hải is also the co-founder Light Charity.
Always appearing with a bright smile and a mature look: this is the portrait of the very young owner of Bánh mì Má Hải, the famous Sài Gòn brand.
Born into a modest family with many siblings in Vũng Tàu, famous for its delicious hot fish cakes, Hồ Đức Hải found the roots of his burning entrepreneurial passion and dream of building his own business there.
Through his determination to overcome adversity, Hồ Đức Hải earned admission to the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, bringing his parents joy and pride.
Throughout his university years, Hải did not waste his youth. He consistently worked hard academically and developed his skills through volunteer activities: supporting entrance-exam candidates, Green Summer campaigns, and community social-work trips.
In his third university year, Hải began developing a business idea for breakfast food: banh mi combined with fish cakes, a specialty of his hometown Vũng Tàu. He clearly envisioned raising roadside banh mi culture to a new, civilized, courteous standard. Acting on his idea with a relatively modest startup fund, Hồ Đức Hải launched his first deliveries through orders from friends and teachers.
Má Hải bánh mì: hot, crisp, delicious, and inviting
After many difficulties and challenges, including slow-sales days while struggling to keep the business going, by late 2014 Bánh mì Má Hải had been warmly received by the market and become a familiar breakfast for Saigon residents.
Operating from 6 to 8:30 a.m., the outlets attracted a steady flow of customers, selling an average of 100 banh mi per day. Má Hải Bánh Mì also received many partnership proposals to expand through franchising. Hải then boldly invested in machinery and developed a specialized fish-cake production line to supply his own network and partners.
The Bánh mì Má Hải team follows the service motto “Customers are family; dedication in every product”
2017 marked a major turning point in Bánh mì Má Hải's development, with 3 fish-cake shops, 8 banh mi shops, and more than 50 banh mi carts across Ho Chi Minh City, employing hundreds of staff. And those figures did not stop there.
Hồ Đức Hải’s ambition is for Bánh mì Má Hải to become Vietnam’s best-loved banh mi brand by 2020. Its products would reach across the S-shaped country through a network of shops and mobile Bánh mì Má Hải carts, bringing Vietnamese banh mi, an essence of Vietnamese cuisine, to the international stage.
Alongside expanding his business activities, the young CEO has always paid particular attention to charitable work. He shared: “I believe everyone should live and work from a kind heart, and that one’s career development must be linked to a mission of serving society and the community. Only then is it a sustainable and meaningful path. Through Light Charity, I hope charitable work can be standardized so more people facing misfortune and hardship receive compassion and assistance.”
The story behind the nickname Mama Hải: As a student, Hải often chaired the organizing committees of many activities, including Green Summer. He skillfully and thoughtfully managed meals for his friends. They trusted and loved him, giving him the affectionate nickname “Má Hải.” He decided to use that name for his product. The friendly, approachable name led many callers placing orders to assume Hải was a woman.