VietNamNet Bridge - Franchises are very popular in many countries but have not boomed until recently in Vietnam, with dozens of franchise brands. Notably, 7 Vietnamese brands have been franchised abroad.

A "Pho 24" restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesia.

By early 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Trade granted over 150 franchise licenses.

Some local groups have big networks of franchising, for example Golden Gate with 34 Kichi Kichi restaurants, 17 Sumo BBQ shops, 15 Vuvuzela restaurants, and five Ashima mushroom hotpot restaurants; Huy Vietnam with 60 Hue cuisines restaurants, 31 “Ong Hung” (Mr. Hung) pho restaurants; and Redsun ITI with 11 ThaiExpess and 34 King BBQ Buffet restaurants.

Foreign investors have also been in Vietnam for many years and created big networks of franchises in Vietnam, particularly in the fields of food and beverage.

Lotteria came to Vietnam in 1998 and this group has had 216 stores to date. Until 2014 it began giving franchises to local firms, with 17 restaurants of this kind.

KFC came to Vietnam one year before Lotteria and it now has 140 stores in 19 provinces and cities with with average revenue of $30,000-$40,000 per month each restaurant.

Starbucks entered Vietnam in 2013 and now it has 20 stores. It has just inaugurated the fifth in Hanoi.

Many local brands are also doing franchise. Ca Phe Cong (Plus Coffee) built its first café in 2007 but now it has 25 stores across the country, including up to 21 shops in Hanoi.

Trung Nguyen has the largest network of franchise shops in Vietnam, with over 1,200. This brand was developed in 1998.

Another remarkable franchise brand of Vietnam is Pho 24 of Viet Thai International Company, with 38 restaurants at present and half of them overseas, including Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao ...

Electronics store chains are also expanding the network, for example the World Mobile Company with over 700 shops, FPT Digital with over 290 stores and Nguyen Kim with 18 stores.

Nguyen Phi Van, a founding member of the World Franchise Associates Company in Southeast Asia, said that international investors still eyed the franchise market in Vietnam because the country is still in the group of "developing markets", which began welcoming franchise brands from 2009-2010.

In a recent interview with Forbes Vietnam, Van also said that the franchise market in Vietnam wad still in the stage of "sowing seeds".

According to Van, when more foreign brands come to Vietnam, Vietnamese companies can learn from their experience to standardize and develop their own platforms before franchising.

Van said so far there has been no successful franchising brand of Vietnam. She predicted that after franchises in the fields of food, retail, franchising in other areas such as services, entertainment, technology ... will develop in future.

Nam Nguyen