Bidrico: 30 Years of Glory

In October 2022, Tan Quang Minh Manufacture & Trading Co., Ltd (Bidrico) solemnly celebrated its 30th anniversary and expressed gratitude to the employees and loyal customers attached to the company throughout that time. Over thirty years, all the Bidrico leadership and employees have willingly spared no effort to lay solid bricks for Bidrico to grow strong and compete equally with giant multinational firms of the world.

The 30-year journey of development

Established in 1992 from the passion and aspiration of entrepreneur Nguyen Dang Hien, Bidrico beverage brand emerged when Vietnam was still a poor economy. Starting with 26 employees and inadequate facilities, with constant efforts and innovative decisions, Bidrico's leadership and staff have gradually laid a solid foundation with an effective marketing strategy, starting with the countryside and then advancing into cities. This unique and different path has enabled Bidrico to grow from a tiny entity in the Vietnamese beverage industry and beat its competitors in the market and become one of the most prestigious beverage brands.

The self-contained production factory, covering 15,000 square meters in Vinh Loc Industrial Park, Binh Chanh, is well furnished with 12 modern production lines imported from Europe and Taiwan, powered by automatic filling technology, UHT sterilization technology, and fully automated hot extraction technology, cared for and administered by company leaders for quality. Therefore, Bidrico products ensure food safety and hygiene when launched onto the market. And, no food safety incidents have ever been reported.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Hien said, as a leader of a beverage company, I always assure customers with 3-no standards (no harmful chemicals, no preservatives and no lead compounds). This rigorous standard is applied to more than 54 product lines, derived from nature and diversified in designs and flavors, for consumers’ health. All Bidrico products are manufactured according to ISO 9001-2015 standards, controlled according to HACCP, Halal, cGMP quality standards and certified by FDA, FCE and SID of the United States. One of Bidrico's endorsed brands is purified drinking water, a 19L bottle product sold by more than 1,000 agents in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas. The product was selected as the official drink for the 2017 APEC Summit.

Currently, Bidrco holds a top market share of purified water in Ho Chi Minh City. Its bottled purified water output has increased exponentially year by year (Bidrico sold 3,000 barrels a day in 1999; 4,000 in 2000; 18,000 in 2006; 24,000 in 2010; and 28,000 in 2020).

In addition to purified drinking water and carbonated soft drinks, Bidrico prioritizes the development of highly nutritional natural products such as bird's nest drink, squash tea, bird’s nest drink with aloe vera, salty lemonade and fruit juice. Particularly, Salanganes Nest drink and Restore salted lemonade were voted as “Typical products and services of Ho Chi Minh City” in 2019 - 2020. Restore salty lemonade was a key product of Ho Chi Minh City in 2018-2020 according to the Municipal People's Committee.

With the operating principle of “Taking customer satisfaction as a measure of product quality, price affordability, reputation and sustainable relationship”, Bidrico always upholds the spirit of innovation and a strong commitment to product quality, illustrated by its efforts to constantly invest in modernizing machinery, equipment and technology; prioritizing human resource development, doing good governance, strictly controlling production, business and distribution processes, and protecting consumer interests. This responsible in-depth investment has helped Bidrico-branded beverage products gain customer trust in the past years. Indeed, the company has never received any complaints from customers about product safety and quality.

Tripod strategy for sustainable development

According to Mr. Nguyen Dang Hien, the success of Bidrico comes from solidly tripoded pillars: The right development strategy; enthusiastic staff, strong distributor network and sustainable relationships with partners and customers; and corporate culture and working environment, exercise of corporate responsibility to the community and society.

With its insightful knowledge of consumers, each strategy in each development stage has helped Bidrico conquer the market and build a foothold in the fiercely competitive market. Besides improving management capacity, the company's leadership always looks for ways to optimize production, create unique and quality products, and maintain double-digit annual growth. Even difficulties during the COVID-19 outbreak like input supply disruption or market contraction by nearly half, Bidrico carried out many consistent solutions like recounting its market share, accelerating digital transformation and technological transformation, rebuilding supply chains, focusing on suitable product lines, improving productivity, and reducing costs to stabilize production output and gradually overcome difficulties. This strategic approach helped keep Bidrico's product prices and sales stable during the most difficult time of the epidemic and stabilize jobs and incomes for employees, a task very difficult for any company during the epidemic outbreak.

Apart from its nationwide sales and distribution system, Bidrico's efforts to make inroads into foreign markets also bear "sweet fruits" when the company's products are successfully exported to quality-demanding markets in Asia, Europe, America and Africa. This is also a worthy reward for the ongoing efforts of all Bidrico employees who have never stopped innovating and improving the competitiveness, prestige and brand position even as the Vietnamese beverage market hosts severe competition from multinational giants.

Be grateful

Feeling very touched during the customer appreciation ceremony on the occasion of the 30th anniversary, Mr. Hien emphasized that "Bidrico's current success and glory, alongside reliable companionship of its partners and customers, come from significant contributions of all employees, that I am very grateful for, who have been working day and night together for the constant development of Bidrico. Their silent sacrifices and dedications will always be remembered and cherished by Bidrico. Looking to the future, we will certainly have to face numerous difficulties and challenges ahead. But, 'fire proves gold, adversity proves men', no matter how difficult they are, the leadership and all the staff will still persistently pursue stated missions, goals and sustainable development strategies, each step towards a value-added chain model where customers and the community will be the biggest beneficiaries. I believe that, with solidarity, determination and unremitting efforts, Bidrico employees will together create new milestones, conquer new heights to go deeper and deeper into the international market, and confidently enroll a prestigious Vietnamese brand in the race with big global players."

He awarded certificates of appreciation and medals to people who have been with Bidrico for 30, 25, 20 and 10 years.

Bidrico's dedication and efforts in the past 30 years have been well rewarded as it has been honored with many prestigious international awards such as the International Star for Leadership in Quality Award in Paris - France; Century International Platinum Quality Era Award in Geneva - Switzerland; International Quality Crown Award in London - the United Kingdom; and Diamond International Quality Summit Award in New York - the United States. Other domestic and regional titles and awards include the Third-class Labor Order; National Quality Award; ASEAN Renowned Brand Award, Vietnam Gold Star Award; Typical Products and Services Award; Gold Grand Award in 2021; Top 10 Nonalcoholic Beverage Company Awards voted by Vietnam Report in 2017, 2019 and 2022; and Ho Chi Minh City Golden Brand Award.

Bidrico was also selected by the Government as an official supplier of drinking water for the 2017 APEC Summit - where quality standards, food safety and hygiene were always the top priority. These were "golden" guarantees for Bidrico as an environmentally friendly and responsible business that moves toward a sustainable green economy, and makes positive contributions to the socio-economic development, industrialization and modernization of the country.

Anh Dao (Vietnam Business Forum)