The prophecy about Starbucks was correct, but Dang Le Nguyen Vu could not 'achieve KPI' for his E-Coffee chain: Target of 3,000 stores, after 3 years only 700

After the divorce of the century, the founder of Trung Nguyen Group - Dang Le Nguyen Vu no longer appears regularly in the media, or if he does, it is only an image of him sitting in a supercar recorded by the press. However, his and Trung Nguyen's philosophies, opinions or coffee making methods are always something that the business world has to learn and ponder. 10 years ago, when the world- famous coffee brand Starbucks entered the Vietnamese market, Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu did not hesitate to make a frank comment about his competitor: Starbucks does not sell coffee, but is selling coffee-flavored water mixed with sugar. The "Coffee King" of Vietnam also predicted Starbucks' expansion potential: " In 10 years, they will develop extremely well, I believe they will have more than 100 stores at most. The important thing is that we will prove that in America, from products, models and stories, I am better than Starbucks" .

It is worth mentioning that recently, when Starbucks celebrated its 10th anniversary of operating in Vietnam, this brand owns 87 stores and has a goal of reaching 100 branches by 2023. If we do not consider many external factors, it can be said that Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu also "prophesied" quite correctly about the "promotion" path of Starbucks in Vietnam 10 years ago. Trung Nguyen Group itself, in addition to producing instant coffee, also stepped into the F&B market, by operating the Trung Nguyen E-Coffee chain (mid-range segment), Trung Nguyen Legend (high-end segment) and most recently, Trung Nguyen Legend Coffee World. In which, the Trung Nguyen E-Coffee chain carries the Group's ambition to expand and expand on a large scale.

In August 2019, at the time of its official launch, Trung Nguyen said that the number of E-Coffee franchise stores on the market was about 100. At the same time, it set a goal of reaching 3,000 business locations, covering the whole country after 1 year. To achieve the goal of rapid expansion, Trung Nguyen proposed 3 cooperation options. First, the 65 million VND package is for coffee shops that are operating but want to switch to partner with Trung Nguyen. The 120 million VND package is for those who want to start a coffee business and the 175 million VND package is fully supported by Trung Nguyen in all stages.

However, "man proposes, God disposes", after 3 years, the Trung Nguyen E-Coffee chain has not been able to complete the "KPI" set by Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu. By June 2020, nearly a year since its launch, the chain had only reached 1,000 stores . Currently, according to information on the website, this number is 620 , far from the target of 3,000 stores. However, it must be said that the Covid-19 outbreak in the 2020-2021 period has severely affected not only the E-Coffee chain but also most businesses in the F&B sector. Covid-19 is also an event beyond the forecast of the entire market. Currently, Trung Nguyen Group continues to promote franchising for the E-Coffee chain, offering a 0 VND franchise policy, and maintaining the target of 3,000 stores. " Up to now, after only 3 years of launching and joining the franchise race, including 2 years affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Trung Nguyen E-Coffee has maintained a strong growth rate with an average new registration rate of 20 stores/month. Up to now, Trung Nguyen E-Coffee has more than 700 stores across the country, more than 1,000 franchise contracts have been successfully signed," said the group.

According to Market Pulse