A group of students have launched a startup to preserve seafood in their own unique way, as they find fish on sale in Ho Chi Minh City inedible when compared to the freshness of the fish in their coastal hometown.

Nguyen Duc Hieu and other founding members of M4S, a startup that sells ‘hibernating fish,’ all hail from Binh Thuan, a coastal province in south-central Vietnam, where fresh seafood is everywhere.

The startup team set up the business with one mission: keeping fish as fresh as possible, without using any preservatives, from the time they are caught to the time of being served to Ho Chi Minh City consumers.

After months of hard work and trial and error, M4S came up with a unique idea to set their business apart: hibernating fish.

As the ‘hibernating fish’ slogan does necessarily grab the attention of most customers who step into the M4S store in Tan Binh District, Hieu proudly says it is the name that best describes the nature of their products.

“Clean fish is not enough to deliver the message we want to send to consumers,” Hieu said.

While cleanliness is a must, M4S also wants to tell customers that their fish is fresh.

“Hibernating fish means that the fish enter a dormant state in the freezer, during which their freshness and taste are preserved,” he explained.

“Once made into meals, the hibernated fish will taste as if they have just been caught from the sea.”

The group began by employing a very basic method: placing fish into ice boxes immediately after being caught in Binh Thuan and transported them directly to Ho Chi Minh City.

“Even so, the fish’s skin colour would still change, indicating a loss of freshness that can be seen with the naked eye,” Hieu said.

The students then spent six months working to resolve the problem, the answer to which they eventually got from local fishermen.

“After being pulled from the sea, fish must be kept away from fresh water as it may affect the sweetness of their flesh,” Hieu explained.

“Alternatively, they can be washed with a specific ratio of seawater and ice, which is how we created the ‘hibernating fish’ method.”

After the treatment using seawater and ice, the fish are frozen and transported to Ho Chi Minh City, with their freshness completely preserved until they are cooked.

The startup said M4S means “I'm for Vietnam,” with the S standing for the S-shape of their country.

M4S is committed to selling fresh seafood, so “anyone who finds any trace of preservatives or banned chemicals in [our] products will receive a VND20 million [US$893] reward,” Hieu said.

The startup has already won over customers.

“The cobia fish slices on sale at the store look white instead of red or brown, which means they are fresh,” Le Thi Bich, a buyer, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Yen Thao, another customer, said she had traveled from Binh Thanh District to the M4S store to buy fresh fish and was “impressed by the friendly youth-run business.”

One investor, who prefers to remain anonymous, has invested more than VND600 million ($26,786) in M4S, and is expected to invest again without any conditions.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!