While Vietnamese consumers are excited to be able to enjoy many famous F&B flavors and global consumer products, a wave of domestic businesses venturing abroad is also booming.
Vietnamese businesses are "joining forces to expand overseas".
Earlier this year, Teatime Joint Stock Company - the operator of the Three O'Clock coffee chain - signed an exclusive contract with FranGlobal to develop a secondary franchise system in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, with a commitment to open at least 100 branches within 10 years.
Three O'clock Coffee is a new brand created by a TikToker, quickly gaining popularity among young people in Ho Chi Minh City thanks to its 24-hour opening hours. During the day, the cafe is a great place for dating, chatting, and meeting friends, but at night it becomes an ideal spot for young people working on deadlines.
Prior to this brand, many Vietnamese coffee brands also ventured abroad, such as Trung Nguyen Legend and Cong Cafe. In December 2022, the Trung Nguyen Legend Coffee World model opened its first space in the world in the heart of Shanghai, China, before expanding to the US market.
Also in China, Chi Pu opened a pho restaurant called La Ganh, selling bowls of pho advertised as authentic Northern Vietnamese style, priced at around 300,000 VND per bowl. Similarly, the bubble tea brand Phuc Tea successfully franchised two HappiTea (the international name for Phuc Tea) stores in the Philippines. Information from Go Global indicates that Phuc Tea has finalized a contract and will soon be entering the Indian market.
In 2023, Cong Cafe, a young Vietnamese brand, opened its first store in Toronto, Canada, marking the chain's third international market. The chain also has dozens of stores in South Korea and many other countries outside of Vietnam.
In the Philippines, the Pho's brand opened its first franchise last year. Not only in the F&B sector, but Care with Love (CWL), Vietnam's first mother and baby care brand, is also reportedly pursuing franchising opportunities in the Philippines and Dubai (UAE).
The global franchising industry is projected to reach over $4 billion by 2027 (Image: Technavio report).
In February of this year, Care with Love (CWL) expanded internationally to Cambodia for the first time. Regarding the reasons for franchising internationally at this time, founder Tran Thao Vi stated that the domestic economy is facing many challenges such as slow growth, declining purchasing power, high operating costs, and fierce competition in many sectors. Expanding into international markets is becoming an essential strategy for Vietnamese businesses to diversify revenue streams, reduce the risk of dependence on the domestic market, and take advantage of growth opportunities in countries with high demand.
Recognizing the saturation and increasing competition in the domestic market, Mobile World Investment Corporation replicated its business model internationally with the EraBlue chain in Indonesia. Era quickly became profitable at the company level since Q3/2024, with average revenue per store reaching 2.8 billion VND.
Experts predict that in the next three years, a series of Vietnamese brands will make spectacular overseas debuts.
Sharing her thoughts with a reporter from Dan Tri newspaper about the wave of "taking the bell to ring in foreign lands," Ms. Nguyen Phi Van, a franchise expert and Chairwoman of the Southeast Asia Angel Investment Network, said that anyone in business understands that the market is the world, especially as physical boundaries are increasingly blurred with the development of online connectivity. Therefore, it is inevitable and necessary for Vietnamese businesses to expand globally if they want to survive and compete with regional and international brands.
According to Ms. Van, while businesses previously had awareness but struggled to figure out how to develop in the global market, recently there have been several programs and successful examples to demonstrate and guide Vietnamese brands.
"I am confident that in the next three years, we will witness many more spectacular deals as Vietnamese brands continue to conquer large, demanding, and potential markets around the world," Ms. Nguyen Phi Van emphasized.
Franchise expert Nguyen Phi Van (Photo: Facebook of the person).
She also specifically recommended that businesses "the more they expand into the global market, the more they must remain truly local." Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have always lacked many things, completely lacking the competitive advantages in high technology, top quality, or excellent service that businesses in developed countries possess. Therefore, their greatest advantage remains their local culture and story.
No matter how developed other countries become, they cannot understand and tell the story of their local culture as authentically and vividly as Vietnam. That is our outstanding competitive advantage.
Ms. Nguyen Phi Van gave an example: for Phuc Tea, the difference the brand brings is the unique flavors and creative, locally-inspired blends in each product, which sets the brand completely apart from Taiwanese or Chinese bubble tea. As for Three O'clock, it's thanks to its authentic Vietnamese coffee flavors such as iced milk coffee, coconut coffee, egg coffee, etc.
Conversely, Vietnamese businesses also need to improve many things, which experts liken to "a list that could last three days and three nights." This is because small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam often start out as family-run, spontaneous businesses, completely lacking a foundation in professional management and operations.
According to Ms. Nguyen Phi Van, the three most important areas for improvement are the professionalism of the founder and team, the professionalism of the operational management platform, and the professionalism of the business model and brand.
Because, in order to "go global," business owners themselves must change their mindset, learn and hone international skills, and find the right core personnel or develop existing personnel into internationally capable individuals. Furthermore, businesses need to learn how to and go through the process of packaging a professional business model and professional operational management before they can transfer this model to international partners.
According to F&B businesses, Vietnamese cuisine is favored by consumers in many countries around the world. This is a favorable condition and a great opportunity for Vietnamese F&B chains to expand internationally. Through franchising, experts believe that Vietnamese brands can more easily expand their market faster and access large, potential markets.
According to experts, franchising is one of the most effective forms of international market development, a method that allows for the export of brands and business models applicable to any industry.
In countries with developed franchising industries such as the US, Canada, Australia, and South Africa, or in Asian countries like South Korea, China, the Philippines, and Malaysia, the industry's contribution to national GDP can range from 3-10%. Therefore, franchising is valued by governments for its economic contribution to the nation and its ability to create jobs for citizens.
According to market research firm Technavio, the global franchising industry is estimated to be worth $2.9 billion in 2023, with a CAGR of 10.8%, and is projected to reach $4.4 billion by 2027.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/lan-song-phuc-tea-three-oclock-va-loat-thuong-hieu-viet-ra-nuoc-ngoai-20250911200343485.htm
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