Why we have not announced export markets yet

Color of Vietnam is preparing to export and has not announced a market. The reason is plain: we only talk about a country once goods have cleared customs there and the buyer is happy to be named. Before that point a market is an intention, not a fact. This piece sets out what is ready, what is not, and how we answer when someone asks.

The cost of saying it early

Young food companies are tempted to write the list early. A conversation at a trade fair becomes a line reading now available in. A sample order becomes a market. We understand the pull. Buyers and candidates both like to see country names on a website.

The list costs more than it looks. A serious importer asks which channel the product sits in, who the importer is, whether the label has been approved. If the answer is not yet, everything else we say loses weight. Our value Speak Honestly leads to a shorter sentence: preparing, nothing announced. It impresses less. It never needs correcting.

What is ready

Preparing does not mean empty handed. The groundwork for food export is in place:

• Our partner facilities in the Thach That – Quoc Oai industrial park in Hanoi hold ISO 22000:2018 (the food safety management standard, currently being renewed), Halal certification from HCA recognised by JAKIM, and US FDA food facility registration.
• A document set for all 20 products: specification sheet, ingredient list, allergen statement, shelf life, carton details.
• Samples from all four brands, shipped within days with storage notes.
• Quotes built on whichever delivery term the buyer chooses, and draft minimum order quantities for each line.

These are the entry conditions. They let an importer start assessing us. They are not a market.

What is not ready, and why we stay quiet

The missing pieces sit on the side of a specific market, and none of them can be done before we know which market:

• Labels that meet the destination rules: language, nutrition table format, allergen wording, permitted product names.
• Shelf life checked again against that country's climate and shipping chain.
• An importer or distributor who takes the product into a channel, with a contract and a real order.
• Papers for the first shipment: certificate of origin, a health certificate where requested, lab results against that country's parameters.

Each line takes time and each line can change the product. A flavour name may have to go. A jar may need a second label. Naming a market before these lines are done is a promise standing in for work.

How we answer the question

Recently a distributor asked us by email, plainly, which countries we export to. Our reply had three parts. First: not yet, we are preparing and have not announced a market. Second: what is ready, the list above, with an offer to send the document set and samples. Third: a question back. What does your market require on the label and in the file, so we can see what we would need to change.

The same week we took a jar of Let's PLAY Maize Ball off the shelf and read its label as if we were a food regulator abroad. The Ô ăn quan board printed on the label stays. The space for a second language, the date format and the nutrition table are all things that would be rebuilt for each destination. That small exercise is why the answer cannot be a list of countries.

What this means for you

For a partner, it means a straight answer from the first email and a team ready to do the work your market requires. For a candidate, it means joining at the stage where the export foundations are being laid, where each step is being done for the first time and you can be part of it.

If you are an importer or distributor who would like the document set and samples, write to us through the Contact page. If you would rather build this from the inside, the Fresher Product R&D (FMCG) and Marketing Leader roles in Hanoi are open on the Careers page.