Mr Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Long Hai Co., Ltd, said, his current career seems to be predestined because he graduated from the University of Civil Engineering and worked in the construction industry for 14 years. On a business trip to China, she went shopping at a supermarket and saw a kind of soft, fresh candy with crunchy fruit flavour called jelly, mainly made from seaweed. Much interested he immediately linked to an endless source of “seaweed” in his hometown and litchi fruit - a famous local product with volatile prices and consumption markets.

When he returned to Vietnam, he tried and determined with some friends (Nguyen Huu Dung, Nguyen Thi Khanh Thien and others) to pool investment capital. In 2000, Long Hai Co., Ltd was established with a starting capital of nearly VND1 billion and a few dozens of workers. Since its inception, the company had clearly defined development direction, focused on intensive investment, constantly renewed production technology, and improved product quality, especially environmental awareness. To date, Long Hai has grown up with nearly 2,000 employees, working in two shifts a day, with each shift producing about 300 tonnes of jelly, enabling the company to earn nearly VND1 trillion of revenue a year and paying an average monthly income of over VND9 million to an employee. Since then, Long Hai Jelly has gone into the subconsciousness of Vietnamese consumers, affirmed the class of Vietnamese brand and gradually reached out the international market.

As the first producer of jelly in Vietnam and the trailblazer on the then fledging jelly market, Long Hai encountered numerous difficulties, especially in sending products onto the market. So, how to make domestic consumers know its product lines and beat Chinese rivals, known for low quality and cheap products, in the market mustered the company’s determination and consensus of all the leadership and the staff. After a short time, most consumers across the country have known Long Hai Jelly.

Being aware that the origin of brand is the quality of products, services and commitment to the quality of “Long Hai Jelly - A gift from nature,” the company is committed to constantly providing products and services of highest quality to meet the strictest hygiene and food safety standards for all customers and consumers. In the process of bringing products from lab to fork, Long Hai always follows consistent, inclusive management policies to further improve product quality, diversity, environmental protection and food safety. The company has thoroughly and comprehensively applied ISO 22000 and HACCP quality management systems for all production stages. This is a state-of-the-art management system accredited and certified by the United States-based ABS. the company conducts weekly, monthly and annual self-assessments to perfect its processes.

Moreover, to best monitor the quality, Long Hai has actively invested in a modern laboratory furnished with advanced equipment to enable accurate product quality analysis, testing and measurement while quickly mastering technology and researching and manufacturing new products. In addition, samples of all shipments are taken and stored for inspection and quality control. Pre-packaged products are controlled by the KCS Division to get rid of disqualified products.

“Long Hai has two production facilities with six processing workshops strictly operated according to stringent inspection procedures. Right before entering production facilities, workers must be sterilised. Shells and plastic bags used by the company are unrecycled plastic bags. The system blows dust and cleans shells before being used to store products and impurities are carried to the separate area. The refrigeration and disinfection system, attached particular importance by the company, uses ultraviolet light to kill bacteria while leaving no harm to the environment and product quality. Automation is used from the production stage to packaging stage at the highest levels. After being packaged, jelly cups shells will be automatically sprayed by the cleaning system and then passed to the conveyor belt into the ripening system. After being checked, the final product will be conveyed to the packaging system. Therefore, the company's products always have outstanding, stable quality and are constantly improved and developed to meet consumer expectations,” he said.

The company focuses on professional production. Each workshop makes one type of product. Each employee is assigned a job in each production stage, thus enabling them to accumulate work experience and expertise to improve their productivity and avoid mistakes. At the same time, the company always concentrates on improving workforce quality by providing them training skills and improving their professional workmanship.

Happiness is giving

Not only striving for better business quality, Long Hai Co., Ltd is also very eager with social activities. With the purpose of helping local authorities to build a beautiful life for his hometown of Hai Duong province, Thanh and his colleagues asked the Hai Duong Television and the Hai Duong Agriculture Association with Long Hai Company to develop the "Escape from Poverty" Programme to help farmers escape from poverty. To date, the programme has helped many farmers end poverty in a sustainable way. Recently, the company also donated VND10 million each to fishing households in the coastal provinces of Ninh Binh, Ha Tinh and Quang Ninh to deal with hardships caused by natural disasters and encourage them to have better economic conditions.

Long Hai's journey to win the trust and love of Vietnamese consumers has lasted for years despite hardships. Believing that "Happiness is giving", Long Hai sends its love and sincerity to get back the love and faith of millions of Vietnamese consumers. After nearly 20 years of operation, Long Hai now has 120 distributors in 63 provinces, nearly 400 sales and marketing employees and experienced managers together with perfect working facilities. This is the basic foundation for Long Hai to work out good one-price sales strategy, protect exclusive sales areas for distributors and enable product returns for customers. The company started exporting its products to Myanmar, Laos, South Korea and North Korea. Long Hai has become a leading producer of jelly and beverages, with its business presence in all the countryside, mountainous regions and islands - a market that accounts for 70 per cent of Vietnam's population.

Without doubt, the today success and position of Long Hai Co., Ltd is resulted from the right, timely strategy and rasp development trends defined by the company's leadership. With its business performances and contributions to community activities, Long Hai Co., Ltd was awarded certificates of merit for its achievements in improving product and service quality by the Prime Minister; and won the National Quality Award. The company also received many certificates of merit for outstanding achievements in production and business and contributions to local and national economic development.
N.Nga