The dried buffalo meat processing workshop of Kim Tien Phat Cooperative, located in Group 3, Chieng Coi Ward, Son La City, covers an area of ​​over 100 square meters. The first impression when arriving at the workshop is the strong aroma of typical spices such as mac khen, garlic, ginger, and chili to marinate the smoked meat dishes. The workshop has 3 wood-fired drying ovens, neatly arranged, clean, ensuring food hygiene and safety.

Busily preparing to process products according to customer orders, Ms. Lu Thi Tien, Director of the Cooperative, shared: Smoked meat is a traditional, long-standing dish of the Thai ethnic group. With the experience of making dried meat passed down from my parents, I have made smoked meat dishes, such as: buffalo meat, smoked beef, and Chinese sausage. The initial "start-up" was mainly to serve family and relatives, later, people introduced and ordered a lot. In 2018, the family registered a business, mainly to make it on the occasion of Lunar New Year, supplying customers in the province and in Hanoi City.

Smoked meat products of Kim Tien Phat Cooperative.

Smoked pork belly products.

Each product is carefully selected from a reputable meat supplier and strictly follows food hygiene and safety in each stage of the production process, giving the product a fresh color and a delicious taste, so many customers come to buy it. In 2023, Ms. Tien's family's smoked sausage product was supported by the Provincial Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center to register a trademark for the smoked sausage product and was awarded a certificate by the Provincial People's Committee as a typical rural industrial product of Son La province in 2023; the smoked buffalo meat product was certified as a 3-star OCOP product.

After a period of doing business, accumulating experience, and building a brand in the market, in 2024, Ms. Tien connected with a number of households making dried meat in Mai Son, City to establish Kim Tien Phat Cooperative with 10 members, investing in factories, drying ovens, steamers, designing product packaging and labels...

The main ingredients to marinate meat include chili powder, salt, mac khen, and minced garlic.

Sharing about the process of processing the products on the kitchen shelf, Ms. Tien said: The meat for processing must be selected from healthy buffaloes, cows, and pigs, and carefully checked for quality before being put into the processing process. Then, the meat is cut along the grain and marinated with traditional spices typical of the mountains and forests, such as: mac khen, garlic, ginger, chili, ... to create a strong and slightly spicy aroma. After marinating, the meat is skewered on sticks for 1-2 hours and hung on the stove, so that the charcoal smoke from the forest wood permeates each fiber of the meat. The "kitchen shelf" process is an important step, requiring many years of experience, the art of balancing spices and temperature. After about 6-8 hours, the meat has a dark brown color, full of fragrant smoke, natural wood smell and retains the right firmness and toughness without losing the natural sweetness of the meat to meet the requirements.

Ms. Tien directly selects ingredients at the business household at 7/11 market, Quyet Thang ward, City.

Currently, the products of the Cooperative are distributed to agents, supermarkets and online sales channels nationwide. The products of the Cooperative are available on the e-commerce platform Buudien.vn; ecofarm-pay.com "Proud of Vietnam - Essence of Vietnam" and are distributed in a number of supermarket systems, restaurants, eateries in major cities such as: Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City; product booths at Noi Bai Airport...

Products of Kim Tien Phat Cooperative are sold on the Ecofarm - pay.com e-commerce platform.

Connecting with regular customers of Kim Tien Phat Cooperative, Mr. Nguyen Nam Dong, Ho Chi Minh City, informed: I learned about Kim Tien Phat Cooperative's smoked meat through a friend's introduction and I must say that I was completely conquered by the unique flavor of this product. That's why we decided to cooperate with the Cooperative to distribute products to restaurants and eateries in Ho Chi Minh City and have been trusted, welcomed, and continued to import products of Kim Tien Phat Cooperative. Last year, we ordered about 400 kg of various products. The products were carefully vacuum-packed, well preserved, and retained their unique flavor even when transported from Son La to Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Products of Kim Tien Phat Cooperative are displayed and introduced at trade fairs in and outside the province.

In 2024, the Cooperative produced nearly 3 tons of products to serve the domestic and foreign markets, with revenue reaching nearly 1.5 billion VND. On the occasion of Tet 2025, the Cooperative produced 1 ton of products, with revenue during Tet of about 200 million VND. Not only stopping at maintaining traditional products, the Cooperative also developed additional products, such as: Cham cheo, grilled grass carp, grilled pork belly. In the coming time, the Cooperative will continue to expand its scale, invest in machinery and cold storage, thereby improving the quality and value of products, expanding the market so that the specialty of grilled meat of the Thai ethnic group in Son La will be known by more and more people.

Lam Giang