VietNamNet Bridge - Many well-known fast food brands are jumping into the Vietnamese market through franchise contracts.


McDonald’s Vietnam on January 31 opened its eighth shop in Vietnam, called McDonald’s Buu Dien.

According to Le Ha My Tram from McDonald’s Vietnam, the shop was inaugurated just after one month of construction to be able to serve customers on Tet.

Located near the HCM City Post Office, McDonald’s Buu Dien, covering an area of 650 square meters, can offer 250 seats in the central area of the city.

Just after two years presence in Vietnam, the world-famous fast food brand has opened eight shops in Vietnam, which, according to analysts, serves as a ‘warning message’ to other fast-food brands, domestic and foreign.

As Vietnam is an emerging market, it is still large enough for many investors, including newcomers.

The rapid expansion of McDonald's shows its active outlook about the Vietnamese market.

As Vietnam is an emerging market, it is still large enough for many investors, including newcomers. 

However, analysts comment that since Vietnam is an emerging market, investors need to follow a reasonable way to be able to reap fruit. 

Most fast-food brands which have arrived in Vietnam are ‘giants’, but not all can succeed here.

Just days before Tet, the highest sales season in Vietnam, a Burger King in district 3, HCM City shut down quietly. In 2015 alone, two Burger Kings on Pham Hong Thai street in HCM City and Lo Duc street in Hanoi stopped operation.

One year before, a Burger King restaurant in Da Nang also shut down.

Only patient investors can grab opportunities

Hoang Tung, a marketing expert from Pizza Home, noted that while some brands have been expanding in Vietnam, others have to shut down some of their shops. This, according to Tung, shows that competition among fast food brands has become stiffer.

Tung commented that only patient investors can succeed in Vietnam. “It’ll take fast food brands time to familiarize Vietnamese people with western food,” he commented.

“Even the best known brands will also have to suffer great hardships in Vietnam before they can reap fruit,” he said.

Nguyen Huu Thinh, managing director of McDonald’s, also said it would take much time to build up a brand in a new market.

According to Tung, two milestones have been marked in the Vietnamese fast food market. The first one was marked more than 10 years ago, when KFC appeared in Vietnam. At that time, Vietnamese did not know anything about fast food. 

And the second one was the arrival of McDonald’s in Vietnam in 2014. The presence of the big player in Vietnam is expected to help change Vietnamese taste and make fast food more familiar to Vietnamese.


TBNH