News & Events · Green Business Matching · 4 Nov 2026
Lá Tía Tô: from a meat restaurant turned vegetarian in 2011 to a macrobiotic plant making more than two million products a year
In 2011 Lê Thị Ngân did something that cost her half her regulars: she turned a busy meat restaurant into a vegetarian one. Two years later she began serving macrobiotic meals in the Ohsawa tradition. From a kitchen delivering rice boxes, Lá Tía Tô grew into a wellness food brand, and then into Tâm Minh Foods, with a factory in the Lê Minh Xuân 3 Industrial Park.
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AnchayTV · Official media partner of Green Business Matching Green business stories 2/35 from Green Business Matching Day Vietnam, 4 November 2026. Original on gbm.network ↗
Lá Tía Tô wellness foods · Tâm Minh Food Co., Ltd · Ho Chi Minh City · latiato.com
As Zen master Tuệ Tĩnh said, "Southern medicine heals southern people". I hope Lá Tía Tô helps many people return to caring for their health in harmony with nature.
Ngân comes from a village in northern Vietnam and worked in property and restaurants before turning to vegetarian cooking. With more than 17 years in food and more than 12 following a macrobiotic diet, she says she learned from books and from her own body. The macrobiotic community calls her "mẹ Ngân Tía Tô", Mother Ngân of Tía Tô. "We don't save anyone," she writes in her founder's story. "We simply, quietly, put a wholesome meal in front of them and let them choose."
Homegrown herbs on the everyday table
Lá Tía Tô's products travelled from the macrobiotic kitchen to the shop shelf: instant brown-rice noodles already exported to Japan, a burdock seasoning powder that Ngân is proudest of, Tami cereal powder, tamari brewed for three years, canned whole-grain rice, jackfruit braised with lima beans, lotus root braised with mushrooms, herbal teas and the Mật Mơ Gừng apricot-and-ginger drink. The company set up a cooperative to buy produce and medicinal herbs from rural areas and runs a wild apricot syrup project with mountain communities. The Tâm Minh factory reports more than 2.3 million products a year, a capacity of over 4,500 tonnes, a network of more than 379 agents and an appearance at Foodex Japan 2023; most of its staff are single women or women in difficult circumstances.
"My vow is to make foods that follow nature, from the medicinal herbs of my homeland," Ngân said on agreeing to speak at Green Business Matching Day Vietnam.
At Green Business Matching Day
On the morning of 04.11.2026, Lá Tía Tô was both a sponsor and one of the Vietnamese companies that took the stage to present to Indian and international partners. Its booth, with the Mật Mơ Gừng range and wellness foods, drew many international visitors. On his tour of the booths, the Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Dr. Vipra Pandey, stopped here, listened as Ms. Ngân introduced the jars one by one and tasted the products at the counter with his party. Dr. Vythilingam P. Pillay, adviser to Malaysia's government and military hospitals, former President of the Malaysian Medical Association and former President of the Malaysian Vegetarian Society, and Ms. Sangeeta Krishnasamy, one of Malaysia's leading vegan actresses and models, stayed a good while to hear Ms. Ngân talk through each product.
At the recognition ceremony that closed the programme, Lá Tía Tô was honoured by the organisers together with the other 20 sponsors, witnessed by Mr. Mohan Ramesh Anand (Founder & CEO, Canopus Group), Mr. Thao Le (Founder, AnChay.TV) and Mr. Nguyễn Tiến Tuyến (Founder & CEO, Chay Vietnam).
Green Business Matching Day Vietnam is co-organised by INCHAM with Canopus, AnChay.TV and Chay Vietnam, with the support of the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Ministry of External Affairs of India.
Based on material provided by the company; compiled by the organisers of Green Business Matching Day Vietnam as a gift to the businesses that joined the day.
