The company announced his death on its Facebook page Monday. It did not disclose further details.
The man from the central province of Quang Tri gave up a job that paid US$1,000 a month in 2015 to open Ca Men restaurant in HCMC and sell traditional foods from his hometown.
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Nguyen Duc Nhat Thuan, founder of Ca Men. Photo courtesy of Ca Men |
Thanks to the authentic flavors of his foods, the restaurant quickly gained fame, enabling him to open one more branch in the city.
After facing difficulties during expansion, Thuan began to focus on ready-to-eat products.
In 2022, perfected after months of testing, he launched frozen snakehead fish porridge. A package, which includes snakehead fish fillet, rice flour strands, concentrated sauce, and dried scallions, is ready to eat with just a few minutes of heating.
As it preserved the authentic hometown flavor, the product quickly became popular among Vietnamese abroad. Within just a year he sold more than 200,000 packages domestically and internationally.
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Leaders of Ca Men make a presentation on Shark Tank Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Shark Tank Vietnam |
In early 2024 Ca Men began to export to the U.S. after meeting quality standards. The products are now available at nearly 1,000 supermarkets and stores in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Singapore.
Thuan took his Ca Men products to the investment TV show Shark Tank Vietnam last year, hoping to raise VND5 billion (US$190,000) in exchange for 8.3% equity to fund production, research and development and marketing.
The company disclosed on the show that its revenues topped VND12.2 billion in 2023 and expected to hit VND24 billion in 2024.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Thuan began a charity campaign to provide 700–800 free meals daily to field hospitals and isolation areas in HCMC.
He was also a member of a club that provides scholarships to underprivileged students, of which he himself was a recipient.
