Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Coffee and tea chains no longerhave it as easy as they did before the pandemic. However, giants in the fieldsof real estate, retail, and FMCG keep entering the industry, according toinsiders.

Since the pandemic, the country has exploded with old and newnames such as Phuc Long Coffee & Tea, PhinDeli Café, Katinat, and CaféAmazon.

Last year, PhinDeli Café, after returning to Nova Service, amember of realty Nova Group, increased rapidly.

Currently, PhinDeli Café has more than 20 stores with a large areain prime locations in Ho Chi Minh City, such as Dong Khoi, Nguyen Hue, NguyenThi Minh Khai, Phu Dong crossroads, Nguyen Du, Tran Hung Dao, and Dien Bien Phu.

PhinDeli Café also appears in many urban areas and tourism-resortcomplexes of Nova Group in various provinces and cities.

A representative of Nova Service said it would develop 100PhinDeli Café stores and kiosks across the country this year. By 2026, it willincrease to 2,500 stores domestically and abroad, such as in North America,China, the Republci of Korea, and Japan.

Media reported that in addition to PhinDeli Café, Nova Serviceheld many tea and coffee outlets from mid- to high-end segments, such as GloriaJean’s, Co Ba, Beach Club Coffee, and Kalea Coffee.

Established in 2016, the Katinat Saigon Kafe chain also grew speedily.By the end of 2021, only 10 small coffee shops were scattered in the centre ofHCM City.

But from the beginning of 2022, Katinat Saigon Kafe has had 33large stores in many prime locations in the city and neighbouring provinces andaimed to expand the chain to 50 stores.

Phuc Long Coffee & Tea, after belonging to Masan Group in2021, has expanded its system to 93 stores and 981 integrated kiosks in thesupermarket chain of WinMart.

According to Masan, the number of Phuc Long Coffee & Teastores and kiosks will continue to increase from now until the end of the yearbecause this is the business segment that is bringing great revenue growth tothe group.

Meanwhile, Café Amazon, a member of Central Group and one of thelargest coffee brands in Thailand with more than 3,000 stores, has been presentin Vietnam since 2019, but due to the pandemic it has delayed plans forexpansion.

Up to now, only 12 Amazon Café stores have been opened in Vietnam.Taking advantage of the market recovery, Central Group plans to open 26 moreCafé Amazon stores in the southern region this year and aims to expandnationwide in the future.

The brand will focus on its franchise strategy to accelerate thechain's presence.

As a known name, The Coffee House, after closing more than 40stores during two years of the pandemic, has regained stores and now has 157.

Ngo Nguyen Kha, CEO of The Coffee House, said: “Knowing thesuccessful formula to open the chain before the pandemic cannot be appliedbecause the customer experience has changed. Therefore, the company is notracing to open the chain at this stage but looking for more suitablevalue."

He added: “Customers now need to experience more products, so wehave focused on products, introduced new product sets and made a good impressionwith each customer. “

Do Duy Thanh - CEO of FnB Directo Company, a training specialistin food service business strategy, is consulting with several new coffee chainsthat will be launched by the end of this year.

Thanh said: “Compared to before the pandemic, investors approachthe market in a more scientific and professional manner by participating intraining courses when they about to open a shop. Before, many people just putin their money and got to work. Therefore, with high growth, the industry’sprospects are expected to be optimistic in the next few years.”

He added that the F&B industry was under tremendous pressureon investment costs, and chains must respond flexibly to keep customers ratherthan increase menu prices accordingly because the Vietnamese market is verysensitive to price.

Many systems are redoing the menu to increase healthy but low-costdishes whilst reducing labour-intensive dishes to improve business efficiency.

Thanh said: “The coffee market has many new chains but no clearstyle, so customers are not loyal and easily fall into price competition. Whenpersonalising a coffee chain, investors should focus on and create loyalcustomers and compete with long-standing famous coffee chains.”

Tran The Vu Thanh, the Sales Director of iPOS.vn, which providesmanagement solutions for the F&B industry in the south, said: “Vietnam’sindustry is changing positively. Since the beginning of the year, customershave come to us in droves. They need tools to optimise management, usetechnology to have accurate data, and help them make more accurate decisions.Digitisation is a solution to help the F&B industry solve operationalproblems effectively.”

Meanwhile, brand expert Vo Van Quang said that coffee chains havebecome very competitive in the market, so the probability of success will befor businesses with more professional and larger capital sources and supportvalue chains.

“The essence of coffee is to drink immediately. The cost-profitratio is large, so it is easy to make a profit, but it is no longer a lucrativemarket. In such a situation, some chains develop more by-products or diversifyproducts and services to optimise their premises and ensure profits per squaremeter. It is important that when expanding the business to other productsbesides coffee and water, businesses keep their core identity,” he added.

Some expanded coffee chains are run by people from showbiz, likeThe Bunny of singer Ngo Kien Huy launched in 2020, which after surviving frompandemic for two years has expanded to three branches in prime locations in HCMCity.

Huy has started to make profits amid fiercer competition inthe segment.

Masan has recently poured another 3.6 trillion VND into the PhucLong chain, raising its valuation to 10 trillion VND./.