Social distancing and compulsory lockdowns are throwing a wrench in beverage chains’ market expansion plans this year adding insult to injury for these already unhealthy firms.

Highlands Coffee has been expanding its chain at a lightening speed, while Trung Nguyen has opened E-Coffee and Cong is exporting products.

Starbucks was the only foreign café chain to make it into the Top 5 in Vietnam, according to Euromonitor.

Highlands Coffee, Vinacafe and Passio all have been selling coffee in vending machines and at new coffee stalls in places with heavy traffic.

For the last half month, visitors to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Dong Khoi Street located near the Metropolitan building in the central district 1 of HCMC can see only closed green doors.

 As plastic reduction is becoming an essential trend to save the environment, beverage companies, which still depend on tremendous amounts of plastic materials, cannot opt out of the trend.

VietNamNet Bridge - Starbucks Vietnam continues to make a profit though its network has expanded slowly and its prices remain high.

VietNamNet Bridge - Though the Vietnamese café market has always been bustling, more and more coffee chains are continuing to join the market.

 Nestle has announced that it will pay Starbucks $7.1bn (£5.2bn) to sell the company's coffee into homes.

VietNamNet Bridge - Twenty-one tons of coffee in Dak Nong province made of battery powder have been seized as ‘dirty coffee’. However, no one can define what ‘clean coffee’ means.

Both Vietnamese and foreign investors are rushing to pour money into coffee farms and coffee house chains as the market is very promising. But not all of them will succeed.

Vietnam, the second largest coffee exporter in the world, is importing more coffee as demand from restaurants, hotels and shops has increased. 

VietNamNet Bridge - While gaining success in other markets, many foreign coffee brands have had to leave the Vietnamese market.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is the second largest coffee bean exporter in the world with 1.78 million tons exported in 2016, worth $3.34 billion. However, Vietnam's earnings from coffee exports  are not high because mostly raw materials are exported.

VietNamNet Bridge - Despite stiff competition and high operation costs due to high rent, more and more coffee chains, both foreign and Vietnamese, have opened recently.

VietNamNet Bridge - Coffee chains in Vietnam have been developing rapidly in recent years with annual revenue growth rate of 32 percent, according to Euromonitor.

VietNamNet Bridge - With the cost price accounting for only 20-25 percent, high-end coffee chains are making big profits selling coffee at VND40-90,000 per cup. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese customers will often order 10 or more products online, but then only pay for one item because of a late change they make to their order.  

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is a highly promising market for coffee chains, but not all investors can succeed here.