VietNamNet Bridge – The café market has witnessed many changes over the last few years with the appearance of foreign brands, many new street cafes, an increased presence of locally owned chains and cafes that do not sell coffee.

Speaking at a workshop recently, Andrew Nguyen, CEO of IFB Holdings, said: “I am Andrew Nguyen, who has brought the most premium coffee brand, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, to Vietnam…”

The chair of the workshop, Nguyen Bao Hoang, who was then the CEO of IDG Ventures, asked the president of OpenAsia, which has brought Starbucks to Vietnam: “Dai Tu, do you think Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is the most premium coffee in the world?”

Doan Viet Dai Tu did not give a direct answer to the question. Instead, he spoke about Starbucks cafes and the original features of the Starbucks chain.

Andrew Nguyen, Doan Viet Dai Tu and Nguyen Bao Hoang all have relations to coffee, and to some extent, they are rivals.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, after five years in Vietnam, has opened 16 cafes nationwide. Starbucks has opened the fourth shop after one year of doing business in Vietnam. Meanwhile, McCafe has just made its debut at McDonald’s in late March.

Starbucks targets businesspeople and youth who prefer  an “international space”. They have been working with industry to attract more customers by holding meetings where visitors can learn about coffee culture and the way of tasting coffee.

Patricia Marques, CEO of Starbucks Vietnam, said in local newspapers that Starbucks has been going on the right track and that it will open another shop in Hanoi this year.

Meanwhile, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has been well known to Vietnamese businesspeople. How about McCafe?

Analysts say the real coffee drinkers would not go to McDonald’s. However, McCafe is still a formidable rival to anyone.

McDonald’s received 22,500 customers on opening day, while the figure was 400,000 in the first month. These included older people, who came with young people. And if some of them drink coffee, this is enough to boost sales.

The coffee counter at McDonald’s has been really crowded. The prices at McCafe are be “more reasonable” than others. A traditional-style cup of coffee here is sold for VND30,000, while espresso, mocha, cappuccino, latte and frappe are VND25,000-80,000.

However, not only McCafe, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Starbucks, Gloria Jean’s, Angela-in-us and NYDC sell coffee. Small merchants also sell coffee. These could be  liquid products or softgels which, if mixed with water, will generate a coffee-flavored product.

There are also the luxurious cafes located in advantageous positions and well decorated. However, they tend to “sell” the space rather than the coffee.

Also, there are street cafes where real coffee drinkers come to enjoy the strong flavor coffee while being close to the nature.

All of the cafes of various styles and kinds make up Vietnamese coffee culture.

TBKTSG