Formation and development

In 1970, Vinh Nguyen Salangane Nest Self-governing Cooperation in Khanh Hoa Province was established and its workers were officially entitled to the management and exploitation of the salanganes’ nests. In 1976, the Cooperation was upgraded into Vinh Nguyen Salangane Nest Communal Cooperation; the profession of salangane nest production was developed stably. In 1987, Nha Trang State-owned Salangane Nest Enterprise was established; salanganes’ nests were exported to earn foreign currency, contributing to the development of the local economy.

On November 9, 1990, Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company was established under the Decision No. 1352 of the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa Province to carry out the tasks of managing and exploiting salanganes’ nests as well as trading and exporting this product to earn foreign currency. This is the first Company's model in the whole country to be directly managed by a provincial People's Committee. In 1993, the Company was re-established under Decree No. 388 issued by the Council of Ministers according to Decision No. 78/QĐ-UB issued on January 16, 1993 by the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa Province. On October 26, 2009, the Company officially changed into Khanh Hoa State-owned Salangane Nest One Member Company Limited.

Since its establishment, Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company has managed 8 salangane islands and 87 labors. In the early days of its establishment, the Company encountered difficulties related to capital sources, material and technical facilities, not being able to meet the practical demand of the unit. In the first years, the Company strengthened its management apparatus, increased the investment in material facilities, built houses for its employees and workers, set up transport routes on the islands, introduced internal principles and regulations in all operation fields and set targets and solutions in its direction and administration to implement the plans assigned by the provincial People's Committee.

With the initial efforts of the leaders and employees, in the first year, the yield of salanganes’ nests reached 1.931 kg, 24% higher than that in 1990 when the Company was handed over. In 1992, Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company took up 4 more salangane islands in Van Ninh district, having in total 12 islands with 40 salangane caves. This is the premise for the planning and development of the salangane islands of the Company.

For the management and protection of salangane population and salangane nest products to be strictly implemented, in early 1991, the first generation of leaders of the Company consulted the provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 455/UB on April 28, 1991 "On the protection of resources and products of salanganes’ nests in Khanh Hoa province”. Regulations to ensure security, politics, order and safety in the salangane islands was managed by the units assigned by the provincial People's Committee.

In 1992, in honor of the merits of the profession, the Creators, the Mother Gods and the seniors working in the salangane nest production, all staff of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company cooperated to build a temple for the Creators and the statues of the Mother Gods on Hon Noi salangane island. After more than a year of building with faith and spiritual sentiment for the Creators and the Mother Gods, the work was completed on June 29, 1993.

In 1997, the Company's leaders consulted the provincial People's Committee to issue Directive No. 18/CT- UB on "The management and protection of salanganes’ nests". This is an important directive in preventing salangane poaching and illegal invasion into the salangane habitats, safeguarding the salangane islands.

During the development process, the Company was affected by climate change with complicated phenomena such as El Nino, La Nina, storms and severe droughts. They have affected the ecological environment of the salanganes, their nesting cycle and their population development. In the face of these challenges, under the direct guidance of the Provincial Standing Committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Committee, the support of the agencies and departments together with the strength of solidarity of the staffs; with professional passion, efforts in scientific research and relentless discovery of new technical know-how, Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company succeeded in moving the salanganes’ nests to new caves on Hon Rom island in 2002, opening up a new direction in the management and exploitation of Salanganes’ nests, forming a new scientific point of view, "The development of Edible-nest swiftlet population is closely associated with the formation and development of new salangane caves.”

The company attaches great importance to scientific research, the implementation of scientific projects at the local, provincial and state levels; to the study on solutions for the development of salangane population and the increase of salangane nest yield. The research project named "The technological procedures of artificial hatching and breeding salanganes in accordance with each stage of development" won the First Prize in the VIFOTEC National Innovation Contest in Technology and the Silver Medal in the International Technical Innovation Contest in Korea in 2009. State-level research project named "Study on scientific basis and solutions for the sustainable development of salangane breeding in Vietnam" and the research project at provincial level named "Study on the salangane home building techniques and the refinement of the process of raising salanganes indoors" were excellent regarded by the Science Council. In addition, the company has applied a wide range of innovative ideas and technical solutions, including spraying system, CCTV system, breakwater construction, wave pressure reduction net, caves for the salanganes in winters, roof construction, and the program of planting a million trees to grow food for the salanganes and to create a stable and safe environment for them.

The Company places great significance on the accumulation and formation of specialized technical know-how in an attempt of developing 129 more salangane caves, increasing the current total number of salangane caves to 169, and that of salangane islands to 32 in Khanh Hoa waters, enhancing the yield and the quality of the natural cave salangane products. In 2015, when the yield of salanganes’ nests reached 3,401 kg, the Company decided to execute the planning and development of salangane caves in Khanh Hoa waters until 2020. The Company was recognized by the Asian Record Organization as the owner of the highest number of Salangane islands, with the highest yield of salanganes’ nests taken from the natural islands of Asia. The company has been working to support the restoration and development of natural salangane islands and caves in the littoral areas stretching from Quang Binh, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Ninh Thuan to Con Dao, raising the potential for the development of the salangane caves in Khanh Hoa and across the country.

Beginning from the tasks of managing and exploiting salanganes’ nests - a precious resource of the province - and taking advantage of its potential strengths, in 2002, the Company established Salangane Nest Material Processing Factory. In 2004, the Company produced the first refined salangane nest product in boxes of 3g for one use by one person, 5g for one use by two people, 50g as a souvenir for visitors, along with a volume of pure sugar candy corresponding to each weight. The usage being clearly explained in detail and preserving the traditional way of mixing ensures convenience for the consumers. In addition, the research group also introduced the compact product of 3 pure salanganes’ nests with 20-gram weight and attractive packaging, which is convenient for the consumers. Since then, many product lines of preliminarily processed and well refined salangane nest  on the natural islands such as red nests, pink nests, pink nests, white nests, light green nests, light yellow nests, etc. coming in a variety of designs and packaging with different recipes have been studied to serve the community. The products have met the needs of health care and the expectations of the consumers. The product lines of preliminarily processed and well refined salanganes’ nests taken from the natural islands are always trusted by consumers in the country for their quality and appreciated for their appealing packaging.

Implementing the strategies of diversifying the products and popularizing the nutritious values of the salanganes’ nests taken from the natural islands among the community, in 2002, the company commenced the construction of the Salangane Nest Beverage Factory in Suoi Hiep ward, Dien Khanh district with the expected yield of 5 million products/year. The construction of the factory is a very important step to timely meet the market demand. This is the first factory of the salangane nest industry in the country to carry out the industrial production in the field of processing the products of salanganes’ nests taken from the natural islands of Khanh Hoa. The factory’s leaders together with the Management Board of the project and the whole Company put tremendous efforts in accelerating the progress of construction as well as overcoming the difficulties and challenges to establish a new factory in 2003. In the market. At the time, there were more than 20 types of salangane nest drinks with snow fungus and these types had almost identical forms and characteristics which made it difficult to distinguish them. After a period of researching, the General Director of the Company and his colleagues discussed, made choices and decided to use the brand Sanest associated with the product line of high-class salangane nest drinks produced by the Company itself. Sanest is short for Salangane’s nest which carries meaningful messages, distinctive professional characteristics and quintessence of the salanganes. The cooperation between Sanest and the Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest brand makes Sanest salangane nest drink product independent and recognizable in the market while making the dialogue and identity systems professional and standard.

In awareness of the long-term importance and significance of brand protection, the Company's leaders promptly decided to register a trademark for Sanest brand domestically and in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China under the Madrid Agreement. Through Investip Industrial Property Joint Stock Company, the Company registered trademarks for its brand, industrial designs and copyrights, namely Sanest brand; Illustrations on the packaging; "sea - island – salangane” signature; Artworks of salangane islands and salangane exploitation; etc. The Company has been granted Certificates by the National Office of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Copyright Office of the Ministry of Culture and Information; at the same time, the Company decided to use anti-counterfeit stamp on each unit of product. Since then, consumers have gained absolute trust in the origin and quality of its products.

With strong will and efforts to acquire modern technology and traditional know-how, the first product lines of the factory quickly gained popularity then occupied major markets nationwide. In September 2004, Sanest proudly received Vietnam Gold Star Award and Vietnam Quality Award. This is a great honor and motivation for the Company to continue to step forward on the path of integration with loyalty and efforts to promote the professional expertise. In 2005, the Factory completed several quality management systems including ISO, HACCP and other international standards. The reputation of Sanest brand in the market has been increasingly confirmed when the factory successfully exported salangane nest  products to international markets such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and China in 2005 on the business trip with the leaders of Khanh Hoa province.

In 2006, the factory produced high-class sugar-free salangane nest drinks. With outstanding quality, in 2006, the company continued to receive Vietnam Gold Star Award for the second time, marking the strong development in the brand development strategy for Sanest. In December 2010, the factory successfully produced a new product named Sanest Fucoidan Salangane Nest Drink with Ginseng then exported this product to the US market in 2010 and set up branches in Laos, Cambodia and other ASEAN countries in 2011. In 2012, the Company has built a new factory named High-class Salangane Nest Drink Factory in Cam Thinh with an expected yield of 50 million products/year to meet the needs of the domestic and foreign markets. In June 2013, the factory introduced the product line of Salangane Nest Drink with Collagen. The products made from salangances’ nests on the natural islands under the brand of Sanest gradually reached the consumers across the country. Having experienced difficulties due to the fierce competitiveness of the market, yet with appropriate production and business orientation and strategies together with great efforts from all employees of the company, high-class salangane nest drinks  have confirmed its position in the market and been well received by the consumers around the country.

In August 2003, the Company introduced Sanest Tourist Travel Service Center which operated in the first "Nha Trang – The Destination" event with its Hon Noi Island Tour, thereby providing the visitors with the opportunities to learn the tradition of the profession of salangane nest production in Khanh Hoa, to see the salanganes’ habitats and to discover the nutritional values of Khanh Hoa Salanganes’ Nests.  In order to take advantage of the potential and strength of the Province, Sanest Tourist brand of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company has constantly professionalized the type of sea-island tourism in order to contribute to the diversification of tourism in Khanh Hoa, popularizing the image of Khanh Hoa Salanganes’ Nests among the visitors who are also the consumers.

The equitization of the enterprises under Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company was submitted to the Government by the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa Province for approval. In 2005, the Company took over two companies, namely Nha Trang Commercial Tourism Joint Stock Company and Khanh Hoa Service-Culture-Tourist & Advertising Joint Stock Company with State shares holding 51% of the charter capital owned by Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company, creating momentum for the rapid growth of revenues and profits through the years, supporting production and business activities under the policy of "cooperation for development”, enhancing the competitiveness and the strengths of the brand in the cooperation between the companies to establish a total power system or a unified entity that ensures sustainable development.

Based on the success of the project "Techniques of breeding salanganes indoors to collect the nests", the Technology Center for breeding salanganes was established in 2007 to execute the transfer of technology of breeding salaganes to collect the nests in the provinces in the country, to provide technology and equipment for the breeding of salanganes, to implement artificial hatching procedures, and to operate the service of consultancy regarding the technology and the supply of equipment for salanganes’ homes. Up to present, Khanh Hoa has built over 180 salaganes’ homes with a population of more than 100 thousand salanganes. We have transferred the technology of breeding salanganes to the many provinces from Thanh Hoa, the Central Highlands to Ca Mau. Most of the salanganes’ homes having the nests collected had high yields, with each house might earn up to 100 kg of salanganes’ nests. The Company is a pioneer in consulting the technology for the breeding of salanganes for 700 salanganes’ homes. The Company successfully built over 500 salanganes’ homes out of a total of 2,614 homes in the whole country and promoted the profession of breeding salanganes nationwide. As of now, the Company has completed the technical steps to breed salanganes indoors efficiently, hold active control of the salangane sources, increase the yield of salanganes’ nests, and affirm its position and reputation in the transfer of technology of breeding salanganes for the people in the country, developing the breeding of salanganes in Vietnam.

Every year, on the salangane islands, a lot of salangane hatchlings falling out of their nests are brought to the center of scientific research and 90% of them are raised successfully. The success of the technology of artificial hatching and breeding salanganes contributes to the rapid increase of salangane population in Vietnam.

In 2007, implementing the production and business development strategy, the Company invested in the building of Sanna Beverage Factory (short for Salangane and Nature), aiming at the production of natural products with the product line of natural mineral water. The highlight of the Sanna beverage brand was its ability to diversify the product lines in order to benefit the health of the consumers, especially those who regularly play sports, football players, athletes, etc. The brand was honored to be the sponsor of Miss Universe 2008. After a period of researching, with the support from leading experts in nutrition and traditional medicine, in June 2011, the Factory introduced the product line of Sanna Red Ginseng Water. This product was produced based on 2 main ingredients that were Korean Red Ginseng and natural forest honey; it is tasty, highly absorbable and particularly good for those work intellectually and physically hard. Following that success, in June 2012, the Company introduced the product line of Sanna seaweed juice which was a combination of rare herbs such as gulfweed, Luo Han Guo fruits, Honeysuckles, Prunella vulgaris L., etc. This juice is nutritious and great for reducing thirst and body heat. The above products laid the foundation for Sanna being a strong beverage brand that can meet the increasing demands of the consumers. Currently, the two product lines of red ginseng and seaweed have affirmed the reputation of the brand in the domestic market and in other Southeast Asian countries, and been highly appreciated by the consumers for its quality as well as its aims at benefiting the community.

At the same time, within the guideline of creating different values ​​to prove the superiority of the products made from salanganes’ nests, the Company has put Sanest Foods Factory into operation in the last months of 2007 with the first product being Sanest salangane nest cake. This is the first factory in Vietnam to produce high-class salangane nest cakes. Producing Sanest Cake from the nutritious salanganes’ nests is an important step in food processing technology: it is not only a lucrative investment choice but also a practical contribution to the community’s everyday life. Many product lines of Sanest Foods such as Sanest Cake, salangane nest yogurt, salangane nest moon cake, Khanh Hoa wine of Salanganes’ nests and Seahorses have reached all classes of consumers.

To satisfy the demand for salanganes’ nests of people across the country, restaurants serving salanganes’ nests have been present in Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and Lam Dong, thereby preserving and embellishing the traditional values of the profession of salangane nest production.

Branches of the Company in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hanoi have set up and developed a strong consumption network for all products of the company in the provinces and cities in the country, well conducted the tasks of customer care and consultancy, helped the consumers learn the nutritional value of Salanganes’ nests, etc. Through the process of establishment and development, Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest brand and sub brands have confirmed their reputation and occupied a large market share in both domestic and foreign markets. Their high-class products have been exported to many countries in the world such as China, USA, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Australia and other countries in the region, trusted and highly appreciated by the customers.

With the aim of enhancing the prestige and popularity of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest brand while fully satisfying the needs of the customers, the company attaches great importance to the benefits and policies for the customers, the implementation of the policies on the benefits for the distributors and agents, the development of customer card services with many preferential conditions, the product promotion, the annual customer conference, the customer service seminars in the local areas, the organization of foreign travels and birthday parties for the Company’s staff; thereby reinforcing the cooperation, solidarity and trust among the distribution network across 63 cities and provinces and making contribution to the sustainable development of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company.

In order to improve the productivity and efficiency of the business activities and market expansion, the Company actively invested in the building of many new factories: Cam Ranh Salangane Nest Drink Factory with the capacity of 50 million products/year; Dien Khanh Salangane Nest Material Processing Factory with the capacity of 30 million products/year; Sanna Beverage Factory in Cam Ranh; Salangane Home Design and Construction Company; Walking Street Center; North-South Service Center; Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Centers in Phu Yen, Con Dao, Ninh Thuan; Salangane Nest  Port; salangane nest restaurant system’ showrooms nationwide.

In the product development plan of the Company for the period of 2016-2020, the Company plans to develop new salangane caves from Van Ninh to Cam Ranh under Decision No. 164 issued by the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province; to invest in the construction of Song Cau industrial cluster in accordance with the policy of the province, to build a salangane nest matetial processing factory in Ninh Hoa for the production of refined salanganes’ nests to meet the demands of domestic consumption and export; to set up pharmaceutical salangane nest factory to produce supplement tablets derived from salanganes’ nests; to build a cosmetic salangane nest factory to produce cosmetic products made from salanganes’ nests; to establish a salangane nest nutrition institute; to expand the scale of activities of and equip more modern equipment and machinery at Cam Thinh Salangane Nest Drink Factory to reach the capacity of 30,000 products/hour. Salangane Nest Drink Factory has produced high-class salangane nest drink Sanest and and nutritious products for children. Salangane Nest Food Factory has developed the product lines of moon cakes for dieters and Sanest Cake for children. The Factory wishes to fulfil its dream of enhancing the value of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest brand; establishing Khanh Hoa Salangane nest brand as a national brand, the products of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company as national products; developing the scientific research cooperation among ASEAN countries. The company will continue to manage the system of the affiliated units and member companies to enhance the efficiency of the production and business activities, to maintain the strong brand value domestically while building a strong brand internationally, contributing to the development of the local economy as well as the wellbeing of Khanh Hoa province.