> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.naco.company/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.naco.company/employee-handbook/1.-welcome-to-naco.md).

# 1. Welcome to Naco

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NACO was born in 2020 in Hanoi, during the early months of the pandemic.

It wasn't born as a business plan. It was born as a recreation project among four Mexicans stranded in a locked-down city, selling tacos online from an apartment. No office. No venue. No formal restaurant experience. Just a practical question: *"What do we do while this lasts?"*

The answer to that question became, without anyone planning it, a company.

***

### Our DNA

NACO operates in one of the most competitive F\&B markets in Southeast Asia. We are a human company with a mixed cultural identity.

**What we learn from the local context:** We deeply value the sustained loyalty, silent discipline, collective attention, and adaptive capacity that are part of the Vietnamese way of working.

**What we bring:** We integrate elements from our Mexican origin — verbal directness, operational irreverence, warmth in relationships, and individual initiative.

**Our real identity:** We belong to no single culture. Our identity is built on shared humanity — belonging, effort, dignity of work, and honesty.

***

### Where We Are Today

In six years of operation, NACO has gone through five structurally distinct stages. Each one solved a different problem. Each one left a lesson the business absorbed.

Today, NACO is not a startup figuring things out. It is a company that has learned — at real cost — how to sustain itself, grow deliberately, and protect what it has built.

The thesis that defines us now is simple:

> **Structure precedes growth. Sustained growth isn't chased. It's released when structure is in place.**

***

### What This Means for You

You are joining a company that takes its people seriously.

Not because it's a nice thing to say — because the evidence is there. Every current Area Head at NACO reached their position through internal growth. That's not a policy. That's a track record.

You are also joining a company that holds a real standard. Care and accountability coexist here. We accompany our people through the important moments of life. We also hold the professional standard regardless of personal context.

> **The work forms whoever does it, when it's done at a real standard.**

That's the invitation. Read the rest of this Handbook to understand the framework you're operating in.