Its redesign shows that the café wants to approach the Vietnamese middle class with increasingly high income and cultural openness.

 A lot of changes have been made with the interior decoration of the café, including lotus patterns on wall paper and a new logo with a lotus and a guitar.

Remko Engleman, managing director of Hard Rock Café Hong Kong, Macao and HCMC, said the café wants to combine the Vietnamese tradition and modern style, and that there would be no barrier between Vietnamese and foreign customers, including music and food. 

According to a Boston consultancy firm, Vietnam has the fastest growing middle class in Southeast Asia, 12.9 percent per annum in 2012-2020.

In Q2 2018, the consumer confidence index was relatively high at 120 percentage points, which put Vietnam in the fifth position in the globe, according to The Conference Board and Nielsen.

Nielsen Vietnam’s CEO Nguyen Huong Quynh said the higher consumer confidence index in recent years, plus the improvement in economic growth index, have led the growth in tourism, entertainment services and IT products.

Quynh noted that the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector did not grow vigorously in the second quarter (2.7 percent). However, with the appearance of new brands, high consumer optimism and high GDP growth rate, this should not be a concern.

Some experts even commented that Vietnam’s economic situation is much better than neighboring countries and the rest of the globe, which have been influenced from the US-China trade war. 

Some days ago, Heineken Vietnam brought a new Dutch beer brand to Vietnam. Alexander Koch from the brewer said Vietnam is the first destination in Amstel’s plan to conquer Southeast Asia.

Heineken Vietnam now manufactures and distributes nine beverage brands with six breweries across the country.

For Ariete of DeLonghi Group, Vietnam is the second choice in Southeast Asia and the fourth in Asia. The Italian household-use product manufacturer last week made its presence in Vietnam via the distributor An Gia Tien.

Vietnam’s GDP per capita, as estimated by the government, is $2,540 this year and  may reach $3,200-3.500 by 2020. 

The Q2 Business Environment Index announced by EuroCham is 84 points, up by six notches compared to Q1.

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