After earning a master’s degree in Business Administration, Pham Van Binh, born in 1987, from A nLuong village in Duy Hai commune in Quang Nam province, easily secured a stable job in Da Nang.

However, seeing his family’s 40-year-old fish sauce business struggle amid fierce competition, Binh dreamed of reviving and expanding the traditional craft.

“There was a time when industrial fish sauce overshadowed the products made with the traditional method. I couldn’t bear watching my parents’ lifelong passion fade, so I knew I had to act,” he said.

In 2019, with the savings from the job as a financial analyst for a real estate firm, and the capital borrowed from different sources, Minh resolved to return to his hometown to start his business.

The family’s outdated 1,000-sq-m facility was renovated and expanded into 2,000 sq m with capital of VND2 billion. Of this, a 1,400 sq m area was reserved for salting fish, with 35 wooden vats containing 4 tons of fish each and 53 cement tanks holding 10 tons each.

He purchased fish-mixing machines, automated sauce piping systems, and bottling machines to reduce manual labor and ensure food safety.

Binh benefited from two “important mentors” at home - his parents, who share decades of fish sauce-making experience.

He strictly follows the traditional fish sauce production process, from selecting raw materials to salting, fermenting, distilling, and checking protein content.

To achieve a delicious flavor, tons of fresh anchovies from Cua Dai beach in Hoi An, Quang Nam are mixed with large-size, pure salt grains from the renowned Phan Rang – Thap Cham salt fields (Ninh Thuan province) at a 3:1 fish-to-salt ratio.

Using modern machinery, raw materials are transferred from tanks to large wooden vats, fermented for 12-15 months, then drawn to extract the sauce.

Next, impurities are filtered out, yielding the purest, fragrant sauce with a reddish-brown or golden hue. The facility also produces large-scale anchovy paste and dipping sauce.

In addition to upgrading technology to boost productivity, Binh has developed management software and anti-counterfeit labels, and expanded markets abroad.

The family’s fish sauce is registered with the Intellectual Property Office, with QR codes for traceability, and undergoes regular quality checks by reputable agencies.

On average, the facility supplies over 50,000 liters of fish sauce, 10 tons of anchovy paste, and 15 tons of dipping sauce to the market annually.

In 2024, Binh successfully exported 2,500 liters of fish sauce to Africa. He is rushing to fulfill a 4,000-liter order from Ivory Coast.

In 2023 and 2024, the facility’s revenue consistently exceeded VND4 billion annually. After expenses, profits ranged from VND500-600 million per year. 

Ha Nam