Vietnam moves fast. Shops open overnight. Trends catch fire before breakfast and burn out by dinner. Frozen yoghurt. Bubble tea. That TikTok dance. Next. But not everything in Vietnam has to move fast. And sometimes, slowing down is the boldest move you can make.

In this episode of You Don’t Know Vietnam, we sit down with Faya Nguyen, founder of Cultra Brewery, to unpack how kombucha went from a homemade lockdown brew to a premium staple on Vietnam’s finest restaurant menus.

And underneath it all, one question: 

What does it take to build something that lasts in a market obsessed with what’s next?

Key takeaways:

• Speed creates visibility; patience builds brands.
• Partnerships can educate consumers for you, if chosen wisely.
• In Vietnam, word of mouth is your PR team and your biggest threat.
• Chasing trends is easy; staying grounded is harder – and far more rewarding.
• Saying no is as strategic as saying yes.

Kombucha without the hype

Faya Nguyen didn’t set out to start a kombucha empire. She first tried it in the US during her undergraduate studies. Her reaction?

“I spat it out.”

But curiosity overruled disgust. Each bottle brought small benefits – better digestion, more energy, fewer sugar cravings – until kombucha became a habit. When COVID lockdowns hit Vietnam, she brewed her own at home. 

Friends loved it. 

Word spread. 

Soon, she was bottling kombucha in her parents’ garage under a new brand: Cultra Brewery.

There was no grand business plan. No vision board. No “10x” investor decks. Just a product that worked, tasted good, and quietly filled a gap in the Vietnamese market.

Partnership over promotion

Most brands in Vietnam go direct to consumers first – big launches, influencer campaigns, and Instagram giveaways. Cultra Brewery took a different route.

Their first big opportunity came from homegrown burger bistro Ngoam, which commissioned two exclusive kombucha flavours for their menu. 

That single partnership opened doors to luxury hotels like Capella.

Instead of paying to educate the market, Cultra let partners do it for them. 

Customers didn’t need kombucha explained. 

They just drank it with their burger, loved it, and ordered another.

Lesson: In Vietnam, who you’re seen with matters more than how loud you shout.

Partnerships weren’t a shortcut. 

They became the strategy.

Word of mouth: Vietnam’s double-edged sword

In Vietnam, word of mouth is everything. It can rocket your brand into public consciousness – or destroy it before you’ve printed your next label.

“You can spend thousands on a campaign,” Faya Nguyen says, “but if one influential person says something bad, it can all go south.”

Cultra Brewery built trust through radical transparency. 

Partners toured their brewing facility. 

Every ingredient was explained. 

Every flavour tailored. 

They didn’t just sell kombucha; they co-created it with the F&B industry.

And while competitors scaled production to meet fleeting hype, Cultra brewed only three times a month. 

Their small-batch model wasn’t a marketing story – it was their operating system.

Why slowing down is a business strategy

“Vietnam moves fast, but not everything has to,” Faya Nguyen says. “I chose to go slow because I wanted to build something that lasts.”

Staying small by design built loyalty. 

Customers didn’t just drink kombucha; they incorporated it into their routines. 

Weekly orders came without reminders. 

Cultra Brewery wasn’t a fleeting trend; it became a habit – and habits are hard to break.

Saying no in Vietnam: the underrated growth hack

In Vietnam’s business world, saying yes is often the default. 

Yes to partnerships. 

Yes to proposals. Yes to potential. 

Refusal can feel rude, risky, un-Vietnamese.

But Faya Nguyen learned that a strategic “no” is as important as an enthusiastic “yes”.

“I used to say yes to everything,” she says. “But I’ve learned you can say no – and things will still be fine. Another opportunity will come.”

In a country where opportunity flows freely, discernment becomes a competitive advantage.

Redefining premium for Vietnam’s next generation

As Vietnam’s middle class matures, so does its definition of premium. It’s not just about price tags. It’s about intentionality.

“Premium means something feels right – like it fits into their lifestyle,” Faya Nguyen explains.

For Cultra Brewery, that meant thoughtful branding, transparency in production, and refusing to compromise on quality for the sake of trend-chasing. 

It meant becoming a brand customers trust not because it’s everywhere, but because it’s consistent.

In Vietnam, speed wins headlines. But slowness builds legacies.

Cultra Brewery proves that not chasing every trend, not accepting every partnership, and not scaling at every opportunity can be the strongest business strategy of all.

Because while trends rise and fall, and the market races to the next shiny thing, brands that choose to stay grounded in their values build something far more powerful:

They build loyalty.
They build trust.
They build something that lasts longer than hype.

And in Vietnam’s fast lane, that’s the ultimate flex.