IT ALL BEGAN WITH A BICYCLE

It all began with a bicycle… Or lack of one, which was what initially brought Truong under KOTO’s wing.

As the only son of elderly parents and a father who was sick, it came down to Truong to provide financial support for the family. At 16 he dropped out of education and started looking for work. At the time, however, all Truong really wanted was a bike. His mother was the one who learned of KOTO and told him he should apply.

His first reaction was disbelief. He remembers thinking, “There could be no school that paid you money to go… In fact, looking back,” he says smiling, “I even thought it might be a scam to sell me to China.”(People trafficking being all too prevalent within Vietnam). However, his mom reassured him and said that if he succeeded he could potentially get the bike he so desired.

That was all Truong needed to hear and not long after, he was entering the KOTO training restaurant for the very first time: Ashy boy, lacking self-esteem, with no real knowledge of hospitality and no spoken English. All that was about to change.

He had now embarked upon the KOTO training program, as front of house, which he expresses was, “very interesting. The volunteers were so helpful. It was a good time, but also quite hard. I had to build a lot of confidence.” Alas, the steely determination was there and Truong excelled in his studies.

Whist still a trainee, he interviewed for the InterContinental Hotel and was offered apposition as waiter at the restaurant there. However, as he was not yet 18, he had to wait to initiate his employment.

Once at the Milan Saigon Restaurant, Truong expanded on his skills as a barrister, “I love to make coffee”, he says. “My dad drank a lot, so I never used to like alcohol.” Although, seeing how much the guests enjoyed wine, made him curious to learn more.

Acknowledging this, the Beverage Director at the restaurant gave Truong ‘The Wine Book’ to embellish his knowledge and topped it off by sending him down to Ho Chi Minh on a wine training course. This saw Truong promoted to Captain of Wine in 2011.

Since then, he has been back to KOTO –helping out when they were short-staffed, was involved when Pots ‘n’ Pans first opened its doors back in 2013 and has dabbled in Wine Sales. At the end of last year he took up his current position of supervisor at the Halia Hanoi, an international restaurant.

Truong is a young man now. He communicates in English with confidence and ease, demonstrating a good sense of humor. He is a dedicated professional with a fruitful career ahead of him. “KOTO is my life”, he says, when asked to summarize his experience. But, the real question is, did he get the bike? And the answer is a very smiley: “yes”.