VietNamNet Bridge - Pham Dinh Nguyen, the ‘million-dollar Mayor’, has been taking slow and firm steps in his business after buying the town of  Buford in the US.

Mr Pham Dinh Nguyen

In 2012, when the international press reported that a Vietnamese man bought Buford, the name of the man – Pham Dinh Nguyen – remained unknown.

Reporters could find little information about him. 

Nguyen was once the director of the HCMC-based IDS, a distribution company.

Nguyen told the local press that he had 10 years’ experience working for international groups, including Coca-Cola and Nokia, and domestic companies such as ICP and Kinh Do in divisions related to distribution and market development.

In 2009, Nguyen set up Thien Kim An Company Ltd which later changed into IDS JSC, specializing in distributing food and consumer goods.

The amount of nearly $1 million he spent to own 4 hectares of land in the US with one filling station, once grocery, one house and one school was mobilized by Nguyen from his friends and relatives.

Pham Dinh Nguyen, the ‘million-dollar Mayor’, has been taking slow and firm steps in his business after buying the town of  Buford in the US.

Nguyen’s decision to buy Buford was believed to be a ‘blunder’. However, it has brought many business opportunities to him. 

In the past, IDS had to contact manufacturers and persuade them to assign it as the distributor. But after the Buford deal, the company has more choices. One of the opportunities is that IDS can cooperate with Vissan, a big player in the food processing industry.

A branding expert commented that the purchase of Buford created a ‘media effect’ which helped Nguyen and his business become better known in Vietnam and the world.

This also helped PhinDeli, a coffee brand created by Nguyen, become better known as it is associated with the name of the Vietnamese Mayor in the US.

In fact, Nguyen and Buford did not appear in newspapers for one year. In 2013, Nguyen turned up again before the public and stated that Buford had been renamed PhinDeli.

The name of the town is the same as the coffee Nguyen sells in the market. The coffee brand was launched both in the US and Vietnam with the slogan ‘The Can-Do Coffee’.

PhinDeli, as explained by the owner, means ‘delicious coffee’. Phin, in Vietnamese, means ‘coffee filter’, while ‘deli’ is an abbreviation for ‘delicious’.

Nguyen has been advertising PhinDeli at his 200 square meter convenience store and introducing it to visitors. He has pictures of coffee cultivation, harvesting and processing on the walls to popularize the coffee brand in the town.

However, analysts said that PhinDeli, as the latecomer, will still have to struggle to cement its position in Vietnam and the US. 


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