Established in 1990, My Phuong Cake Factory (Da Nang) specializes in manufacturing all kinds of breads and cakes, typically baked coconut cakes.

Mai Thi Y Nhi – owner of My Phuong baked coconut cake shop Da Nang

Mrs. Mai Thi Y Nhi – the owner of the facility said that Da Nang is known as a tourist city with millions of visitors every year. In addition to scenic excursions, visitors are also impressed with Da Nang’s specialties. In which, baked coconut cake is a dish that many visitors love because of the delicious taste, crispy and sweety.

Originating in Quang Nam, baked coconut cakes are distributed to Da Nang to serve tourist destinations and are always in status of supply behind demand because the production process consumes a lot of time and energy. At the same time, although the same ingredients such as coconut, rice flour, glutinous flour, sesame, depending on the recipe, each place brings a different feeling to the user. Grasping the large market as well as the desire to create coconut cakes baked by Da Nang brand, Mrs. Nhi quickly explored the recipe, invested in machinery to produce high-quality products, meeting the needs of visitors.

My Phuong baked coconut cake products at the OCOP product evaluation conference in Da Nang city 2021

On the first day of working on the idea, she bought products from the facilities in Quang Nam to survey the market’s demand and find the recipe to produce the best baked coconut cake. Although the original batches of cakes are somewhat rough, their shape and taste are totally different from each other, Mrs. Nhi is still undeterred.

Thanks to the encouragement and support from her husband who used to work in the food industry, finally My Phuong baked coconut cake has a sweet, fatty, crispy taste officially launched on the market. The first success motivates her to create many new formulas, persify products in the market. Therefore, green bean-baked coconut cakes and peanut coconut cakes were born. My Phuong baked coconut cake products are packed quintessence from the Central with rice flour, Quang Nam glutinous flour, sesame, peanuts, Hoa Vang green beans.Originally from Binh Dinh, she uses Tam Quan coconut as the main ingredient.

My Phuong baked coconut cake Production Facility in Da Nang

With the aim of improving the output and quality of tourism services, Mrs. Nhi decided to invest in modern equipment and machinery and design beautiful packaging, creating a name for My Phuong coconut cake. About 20,000 baked coconut cakes are produced everyday, and distributed widely throughout tourist destinations, stops and local bus stations.

Not only that, Mrs. Nhi also wants to spread Da Nang specialties to consumers around the world and Japan is the first foreign market that she chooses. "Japan is an extremely fastidious market with strict standards. In particular, the policy of protecting agriculture, including rice - is the main ingredient in the cake, along with a few cases of peanut allergy that makes it difficult to export" - Mrs. Nhi recounted.

Food safety certification and 4-star OCOP certificate in Da Nang with My Phuong baked coconut cake

Therefore, My Phuong baked coconut cake needed to be changed in the recipe; prove the ingredients are 100% clean, even through the test step with metal detectors. After many efforts, in 2020, the first shipment consisted of baked coconut cakes, green bean - baked coconut cakes, peanuts-baked coconut cakes approaching the "land of cherry blossoms" and receiving compliments from consumers here. Following the success, Japanese partners are constantly ordering to import baked coconut cakes to the country. In early April 2022, two baked coconut cakes were shipped to the "land of the rising sun".

Thanks to the Da Nang Trade Promotion and Promotion Center to support modern equipment, 70% of machinery is applied to the process to improve production progress. In addition, the locality also supports the establishment to promote products to other provinces as well as on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Shopee,... In 2021, The People's Committee of Da Nang City recognized My Phuong peanut-baked coconut cake with 4-star OCOP standard.

Some products of My Phuong peanut baked coconut cake

Mrs. Nhi shared: "Before I knew about OCOP, I only produced the products for tourism. After receiving the certification, I need to take responsibility for developing the local economy and creating jobs for the people." Despite facing many difficulties due to the last epidemic, My Phuong still tried to find distributors in some provinces and cities, maintaining orders so that workers did not lose their jobs.

In 2022, the facility is cooperating with Da Nang Department of Industry and Trade to complete the application for trademark protection support. In order for the product to become more and more popular to the world, Mrs. Nhi signed a contract with Taiwan and proceeded to negotiate with the Nordic market, thereby creating opportunities to attract foreign tourists, contributing to tourism development and stabilizing the lives of local people.

Truc Quan
Translated by Bich Vy