Dang Le Nguyen Vu – Founder of Trung Nguyen Legend

Dang Le Nguyen Vu was born on February 10, 1971, in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam into a poor farming family. They later moved to the mountainous district of M’drak in Dak Lak province. He is currently the Chairman of Trung Nguyen Legend Group.

In February 2012, Dang Le Nguyen Vu was officially recognized as the “King of Vietnamese Coffee” by the prestigious National Geographic Traveller magazine.

In the same year, Forbes magazine awarded him the title of “zero to hero” for his remarkable success in the coffee industry.

So what made Dang Le Nguyen Vu the successful entrepreneur he is today?

Chasing dreams amidst uncertainty

In an article published in Tuoi Tre newspaper in 2004, Dang Le Nguyen Vu recounted his journey from a poor student with big dreams.

“No one in my family had hair loss or baldness, but I have lost a lot of hair. I have paid the price for my burning ambition. Every morning when I look in the mirror, I am confronted with the “consequences” of my actions: sometimes I find handfuls of hair falling out when I comb or style my hair…

I didn’t know what I would do at the age of 22. But I knew that I had to change my life, that I couldn’t remain poor forever. My mother worked hard all year round, her face hidden in darkness, both in the presence of people and in the field. I can always imagine my mother carrying piles of bricks or running into the vegetable field to pick young shoots to sell and earn a living for the family.

My mother thought that our impoverished life was determined by fate. Every time I visited home, my mother was happy and worried at the same time. She was happy to have her son visit, but worried because when I left, she had to borrow 200,000 VND (about $9) from neighbors to pay for my school fees. I will never forget that dark day when my father fell seriously ill and ran around the village trying to come up with 2 million VND (about $90) for his medical treatment!”, he recalled.

When he shared his entrepreneurial dreams with his friends, they all thought he was “crazy”. Only a few people at university would talk to him. However, Dang Le Nguyen Vu managed to find three classmates who were willing to listen and work together to build the successful Trung Nguyen coffee empire.

“Our advantage at that time was that there were a lot of international students in our university, so through them, we learned about the best coffee places. In Tuy Hoa, there was a very good coffee shop, so on our days off, we drove there to learn the secrets from the kind owner. When we explained our reasons and dreams, the owner truly sympathized with us, a group of poor students. In the evening, on our way back to Buon Ma Thuot, in a late-night journey, we had in our hands the secret to roasting delicious coffee from the kind café owner.”

“On the day we opened our coffee roasting facility, we held a ceremony for good luck. But right after the ceremony, the relatives of the landlord came and destroyed everything, cutting off all the power lines. We had to move the roasting facility to another location. It was a hand-operated roaster, fueled by wood. Every time we roasted coffee, there were a few of us sitting on a wooden platform under the scorching heat. Some neighbors were afraid that one day we would burn down their houses and went to the police. So once again, we had to close down the roasting facility.”

But there were also people who helped us. We received a few kilograms of coffee each time, roasted, ground, packaged, and shared them to sell at various shops. Then we collected the money, paid it back, and borrowed a few more kilograms. The logo on the Trung Nguyen coffee bags at that time was an arrow pointing straight up to the sky. That simple image encapsulated all of my aspirations”, Dang Le Nguyen Vu wrote about the early days of his entrepreneurial journey.

In 1996, Trung Nguyen Coffee opened its first branch at Milestone 3 (Buon Ma Thuot City), marking a significant milestone in Dang Le Nguyen Vu’s life and the history of the Trung Nguyen coffee brand.

In 1998, Trung Nguyen Coffee expanded rapidly and became a household name in Saigon, captivating coffee lovers across the city. Dang Le Nguyen Vu created a way for customers to become coffee connoisseurs, allowing them to express their personal preferences through the various flavors of coffee.

In fact, people began to use the term “Trung Nguyen coffee” to refer to any kind of delicious coffee, making it a guiding star in the Vietnamese coffee market.

In 2011, Trung Nguyen was featured in the prestigious Financial Times as one of the successful companies in the world. In February 2012, Dang Le Nguyen Vu was officially recognized as the “King of Vietnamese Coffee” by National Geographic Traveller magazine.

In March 2012, Global Coffee Review, a global coffee industry magazine, published an article titled “King of Vietnamese Coffee” in its March and April 2012 issues. Shortly after, in August 2012, Forbes magazine, the leading global economic and financial information magazine, reaffirmed Trung Nguyen’s title with the praise “From Zero to Hero”.

In 2021, Trung Nguyen Legend Group celebrated its 25th anniversary (June 16, 1996 – June 16, 2021). The journey of Trung Nguyen continues with a commitment to serving the community and realizing a new mission, aiming to provide a new lifestyle – the philosophy of “Mindfulness – Zen coffee”.

Especially in July 2023, Dang Le Nguyen Vu surprised the media with an interview with Dan Viet newspaper. In the interview, the Chairman of Trung Nguyen coffee revealed his plan to earn $1,000 billion for Vietnam.

“With regard to wealth, we will never lack anything. In the future, there will be even more opportunities. My plan is to bring back at least $1,000 billion for Vietnam. $1,000 billion per year!”, he emphasized.

When questioned about the skepticism surrounding the $1,000 billion figure, in an imperfect, conflicted, and challenging world, whether it is an illusion or not, Dang Le Nguyen Vu confidently replied: “Well, there must be something behind it. $1,000 billion divided by 210 countries. Each country makes $5 billion. So $1,000 billion is the minimum, what’s so difficult about it!”

During the conversation, Dang Le Nguyen Vu also revealed that the Trung Nguyen Legend store in Shanghai, which opened last year, has been profitable despite significant investment.

Through a franchise model, Trung Nguyen plans to expand and develop 1,000 stores across China. In addition, Trung Nguyen is also planning to open stores in the United States, South Korea, Dubai, and other Southeast Asian countries.

Initial results: In the final days of 2023, Trung Nguyen Legend successfully opened its first franchise store at 107-109, Building 14, Libo Center, Lane 379, Nam Hong Street. On September 29, 2023, Trung Nguyen officially opened its first coffee shop in the United States.

According to Dang Le Nguyen Vu, Trung Nguyen will continue to expand globally: “In China, Trung Nguyen is currently designing a training program to define its vision. It requires a lot of effort. Technical standardization is easy, but philosophical standardization is difficult.”

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