DAT BUTTER
“He has always been an independent thinker,” Cheryl said. “He played soccer and wrestling, and whenever he played he was very intense. That competitive spirit of ‘I’m going to get out and do it’ has always been there.”
Dat Butter now comes in five different types of peanut butter and two different varieties of cashew butter. Vietnam is also one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of cashews.
“We’ve grown very quickly,” Luan said. The company has grown from selling perhaps 50 jars a month — primarily in farmers markets or small mom and pop stores in ex- pat districts around Ho Chi Minh City where many Americans, Europeans and Australians lived who were familiar with peanut butter — to more than 1,000 jars a week in less than a year.
Until recently, most of the sales have been in the immediate area of Ho Chi Minh City, however, Luan said he and his partners have recently tapped into markets around Da Nang and Hanoi. They were able to get the product into one of Vietnam’s largest retailers, Big C, which Luan compared to Walmart.
Luan is sourcing his peanuts from about 10 farms that were picked because the farmers expressed a willingness to make a switch and grow the peanuts in an organic manner. Luan said that in the past peanut producers in Vietnam were used to putting pesticides and insecticides on their crops in order to grow the peanuts faster and turn the crops over quicker to be able to make more money.
“We taught them to grow organically,” Luan said. “Our focus is on all natural. It’s changing the mindset, which is like trying to change the path of the rivers. It’s very hard.” The growing process is much slower and the yield per acre is smaller, but when Luan was able to pay them about 60 percent more than they got in the past, it didn’t take long to convince several of the younger farmers to give it a try. Others saw how long it was taking and wanted to turn back.
The plant Luan now operates employs about six people in production and has three others helping with outside sales. Luan handles marketing for the company.
While the company is growing quickly, Luan said he and his partners are not getting rich by any stretch of the imagination.
“We’re looking for a grant or investors,” Luan said. New capital is needed to increase production as the number of markets they are able to tap into grows rapidly. Luan said he really wants the company to become more profitable so that he can return some of those profits to help with the education of children across Vietnam.
“I really want to give back,” Luan said.
‘We taught them to grow organically. Our focus is on all natural. It’s changing the mindset, which is like trying to change the path of the rivers.’
Luan Jenkins