How to "upgrade" Vietnamese cuisine, solve the "curse of cheap, popular prices", so that besides mid-range customer segments, Vietnam can welcome more high-end tourists?

Obviously the issue is not the price but whether the product/product experience is worth the price.

Story Are the 180,000 VND green rice cake and 100 USD apple wine expensive? (posted on Tuoi Tre Online on October 11) during the conference What products for high-end tourists to Vietnam? - organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper - created subsequent debates on a number of forums and even in the article's comment section.

In that way, readers also give practical suggestions to "upgrade" cuisine, turning cuisine into a valuable tourism product.

Selling green rice cakes or the story of green rice cakes?

Below the article, a reader cited Thailand - a successful model of low-cost tourism - and asked, in essence, why does Vietnam want to follow the high-end tourism model?

"The quality is not commensurate but the price is high, tourists think they are being cheated and will never come back," this person wrote.

But besides cheap tourism, the potential for high-end tourism is also wide open.

Reader Huynh Dang You thinks that a rice cake for 180,000 VND, a liter of apple wine for 100 USD... is probably something to think about.

"But we also need added values ​​to the product, which are quality, packaging, marketing, especially the space to enjoy the product and the story associated with the product," the reader said, "we should change the mindset of selling cheaply, selling for profit, and selling more for less profit."

Haitourguide readers believe that "each product is a story, a process of forging and crystallizing to create a brand. And what people sell is the whole brand at a high price."

On an online forum, this story also received surrounding discussions.

Some people say the price increase is "our own cleverness" or "sneaky". Others talk about "making colour" (a slang term for "making colour", a figurative term for marketing technology) about the way some countries around the world sell their brands.

"To do this, there must be transparency from top to bottom. When a product has high reliability, the price will automatically increase," said one person.

Perfect marketing technology

Vietnam is a culinary paradise. Many prestigious travel websites and rankings as well as many foreign newspapers praise Vietnamese delicacies. And many tourists have fallen in love with and come to Vietnam because of the flavors of its dishes.

Vietnamese food is affordable, no one denies. But is Vietnamese cuisine just going to stagnate?

The tropical monsoon climate has created a rich culinary space. Besides being popular, is it possible that Vietnamese dishes can (or deserve to be) much more… high-class?

After the Michelin 2024 awards ceremony at the end of June, sharing with Tuoi Tre Online , Summer Le - representative of Nen Danang (the first restaurant in Vietnam to receive the Michelin Green Star Award) - shared that "there are other aspects of our cuisine that have not yet developed".

She gave an example: fine-dining - a form of dining at a high-end restaurant, aiming for a refined, luxurious culinary experience with quality dishes.

Retelling to see that a completely handmade rice cake can be sold for 180,000 VND, even 500,000 VND.

Similarly, 1 liter of apple cider can cost up to 100 USD or a portion of bun cha or a bowl of pho can be sold for hundreds of thousands...

But here, in addition to delicious food, we also "sell" an inspirational story, accompanied by quality, safety, reliability as well as professional service attitude to bring a high-class, unique and valuable culinary experience. Or in other words, we sell with a superior marketing technology.

Only then will it form and create a "runway" for Vietnamese high-end cuisine to start and take off.