The Coop by Chookie’s Ninh Binh: Built for the People Who Stayed
Published by Chookie’s Travel · Ninh Binh, Vietnam
Most businesses reward loyalty with a certificate or a bonus. Chookie’s did something different.
The Coop by Chookie’s Ninh Binh was built as a place of meaning – not just for guests, but for the people who had been there from nearly the beginning. The ones who showed up when there wasn’t much to show up for. The ones who stayed through the slow seasons, through Covid, through the quiet years when the chairs gathered dust and the dream still needed tending.
This is their place. And these are two of the people it was built for.
La Anh – Seven Years Before The Coop Had a Name
La Anh joined Chookie’s in 2017, back when the Beer Garden in Tam Coc was still more idea than reality. There were no polished menus, no full house on Friday nights – just a patch of land, a shared vision, and a lot of work ahead.
He stayed.
Through the growth years, through Covid shutting everything down, through the reopening in November 2022 with just five people holding the whole operation together – La Anh was part of it. By the time The Coop opened, he had become more than an employee. He had become part of what Chookie’s was made of.
Today he manages The Coop – and there’s something quietly right about that. The person who was there before the walls were up is now the one who keeps everything running inside them.
Vinh – The Chef Who Grew With the Kitchen
Vinh came to Chookie’s in 2018, a year after La Anh, when the brand was beginning to find its shape. He started as a cook and grew into a chef – not through a title change, but through six years of showing up, learning, and caring about what came out of his kitchen.
At The Coop, the food reflects that. Honest ingredients, simply prepared, made by someone who understands that good food doesn’t need to perform. It just needs to be real.
When The Coop was being planned, it made sense that Vinh would be part of it. Not as a reward handed down from above – but as a recognition of what he had already built, one dish and one shift at a time.
Why The Coop Is Different
Most new venues open with a fresh team, a grand concept, and the energy of something brand new.
The Coop opened with people who already knew what Chookie’s meant. Who had lived through its hardest chapters and chosen to stay anyway. That’s what makes it different – not the corrugated iron walls or the warm string lights out front, but the fact that the people inside have roots here.
At Chookie’s, we believe the people who give the most to a place deserve to have that place give something back. The Coop is that belief, made physical.
Come visit us at The Coop by Chookie’s in Ninh Binh – and when you do, you’ll know the story behind the people who welcome you in.
This is part of our ongoing staff series – stories about the people who make Chookie’s what it is. Keep reading, or stop by and meet them yourself.