The owner of Mr.Kim’s kimchi personify the M&A transaction: “Only after 5 years of flirting did we agree to marry our brand as a daughter to CJ corporation, so we can raise a smarter and quicker secon
The owner of Mr.Kim’s kimchi personify the M&A transaction: “Only after 5 years of flirting did we agree to marry our brand as a daughter to CJ corporation, so we can raise a smarter and quicker secon
“This parting, according to Ms.Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh - CEO of Kim&Kim company that owns Mr.Kim’s kimchi brand, is considered as marriage of a mature daughter into a suitable, appropriate family”, Ms.Kim Hanh shared her thoughts at the BSA center in HCMc city recently.
At this place, she told us stories about her very first days of selling kimchi until she sold the brand and started her journey by nourishing her second child, coffee.
I wanted to sell kimchi at the markets as an alternative to vegetables pickle, in the end I had to throw away 5 tons of kimchi.
“Speaking of kimchi reminds me of my “married first child”. 15 years ago, I met Mr.Kim (Kim Tae Kon), he was my boss at that time”, she recalled with emotions. Mr.Kim is now her husband.
In 1994, Mr.Kim came to Vietnam, initially to support a gourmet firm of an acquaintance.
He was working in advertisement. Because of the economic crisis in 1999, he went back to Korea.
5 years later, he returned to Vietnam with a small capital. He hired an office with 20 employees and started working in e-commerce.
At that time, e-commerce was not common in Vietnam. His firm was not making any profits for months.
As a Korean he eats kimchi everyday. He often shared his kimchi with Vietnamese employees. He realised that they really enjoyed kimchi and came up with the idea of selling his homemade kimchi.
He asked for Ms.Hanh’s help to buy the ingredients, which includes almost 20 types of vegetables.
“In the beginning, we aimed for the open market as an alternative to vegetables pickled. We hired 5 salesman to deliver to the market around the 22nd of December (Lunar Calendar). The next day, we came to the stores to check and found out little was sold. The store owners hid the kimchi, they bought just to please us, also because they were too busy. We could not let our salesman to stand at the stores to introduce either due to the limited space”, she said.
5 days later, Ms. Hanh and Mr. Kim decided to throw away 5 tons of kimchi in storage to change the strategy. Those 5 tons of kimchi were Mr. Kim’s big assets at that time.
The decision to aim for supermarkets
In that same year 2014, after throwing away 5 tons of kimchi, Mr.Kim and Ms.Hanh went for the supermarkets. Ms.Hanh decided to withdraw her savings and sell her motorbike to continue her work with kimchi. The plan was to produce 50 kg of high-quality kimchi to offer to the supermarkets.
“We offered our kimchi at Citimark. I told the manager that we made deliveries throughout the holidays. Having seen the eye-catching package and the good quality, they agreed at once”, she said.
And so Mr.Kim’s kimchi arrived at other supermarkets. The owners became closer and got married in no time.
At the beginning of 2016, Kim&Kim company had more than 200 employees, its annual growth rate reached 50% at some points.
The fate with CJ
A big Korean firm named CJ was keeping an eye on Mr.Kim’s kimchi brand for a very long time. After 5 years of “flirting”, the couple decided to marry their brand to CJ.
“Selling Mr.Kim’s kimchi brand is like marrying a mature daughter to a suitable and appropriate family”, Ms.Hand responded to the question: Why selling Mr.Kim’s kimchi brand when it is growing fast?
According to her, the second child is usually smarter and brighter that the first one. And her second child turned out to be coffee. Ms. Hanh is on her journey to conquer coffee, in which she believes will promise a bright future.
According to the young
Source: Http://cafebiz.vn/chu-thuong-hieu-kim-chi-ong-kims-cj-tan-tinh-5-nam-chung-toi-moi-ga-Con-gai-de-nuoi-Dua-Thu-hai-Thong-dawn-fast-Nhen-hon-
20171024112156129. CHN