WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Home / Economy / Trade - Service
Local business taking lead in Food&Beverage market
Ngoc Thuy 12:34, 2017/11/27
Instead of franchising foreign brands, local businesses are capable of building their own brands in Food&Beverage (F&B) sector, as well as to take the lead in developing F&B.
The Vietnamese F&B market has a newcomer in Hatoyama – a japanese brand on seafood. This brand is established by the Migroup Investment & Commerce Company of Dinh Minh after having successes with 2 brands honoring Vietnamese cuisines such as World Seafood Restaurant (The Gioi Hai San) and Double Goat Restaurant (De Re Song Duong).


The timing in which Dinh Minh decided to invest in a Japanese seafood brand is due to the growing trend of Japanese and Korean style restaurants when Vietnamese economy is developing in comprehensive cooperation with Japan and Korea, not to mention enterprises in F&B sector are in search of new business model. As such, Migroup has introduced a new model as a bridge for cuisine connection between Vietnam and Japan. 

Minh decided to develop a japanese seafood brand right in Vietnam, instead of opting for a franchinsing from a well known japanese brand. “the Franchise has disadvantage of unable to response in a timely manner, or to modify in a way suitable with the taste of local customers, it also takes a lot of time for negotiation” – Minh said. 

Minh even is convinced, that this model will be a big success as the competition in Japanese cuisine in Vietnam is still low. Despite being a new brand, but Hatoyama has an advantage of a 24-hour fresh fish menu (the first and only restaurant in Hanoi to transfer fish directly from Japan to Vietnam). Besides, Hatoyama also have fishries from 28 Vietnamese seas, which are available in the World Seafood Restaurant. 

Especially, Hatoyama has Chef Kyo – with 8,000 days working in Japanese cuisine and has served for the former Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio. According to Minh, capital needed for a model such as Hatoyama is 15 – 25 billion VND (700,000 – 1,000,000 USD), which is aimed to luxurious segment with price ffrom 700,000 – 1,500,000 VND per set (30 – 70 USD). There are even a sashimi set with price from 1,500,000 – 5,000,000 VND per set. 

There are a growing trends of Korean or Japanese style restaurants in Vietnam, in which half of these restaurants are operated by Japanese or Korean owners. The remaining are franchised to Vietnamese business or setting their own business model. However, with what the local businesses are doing, it is feasible that in the coming time, Vietnamese companies will hold a larger market share.  As such, despite Vietnamese cuisine is famous all over the world, its business model are still fairly new compared to Korean’s or Japan’s. 

“Their business models or ideas have hundreds of years old. Meanwhile, the food business model in Vietnam has just boomed with everything at the starting point” – Minh said. Redsun, a local companies famous for franchising has been operating for 10 years, but have owned many famous Japanese and Korean restaurant brands, with 90% customers are Vietnamses, such as King BBQ, Seoul Garden, Sushi Kei,Tasaki, Hotpot Story, Buk & Buk, Dolpan Sam, Tasaki BBQ. These separate restaurants have been inspired from restaurants in other countries but then adopted to suit Vietnamese customers’ taste. Redsun’s objective in the next 5 years is to increase the number of restaurants from 160 to 450. 
Other news
22:57, 2024/11/29
Hanoi controls fruit traders to ensure safety
By encouraging all stakeholders to co-operate, Hanoi aims to improve food safety standards and protect public health.
18:45, 2024/11/28
Vietnam, Hesse (Germany) promote high-tech cooperation
Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Hesse has reached around EUR1 billion (US$1.05 billion) annually, accounting for one-tenth of total trade between Vietnam and Germany.
15:34, 2024/11/27
Big discounts on offer at Hanoi's November Promotion Festival
The event is part of the Hanoi Concentrated Promotion Program 2024, held in May, July, and November, attracting up to 2,000 businesses.
17:23, 2024/11/26
Hanoi unveils 150 most popular Vietnamese products and services for 2024
The "Most Popular Vietnamese Products" voting program is part of the city's broader efforts to encourage the consumption of local goods.
16:50, 2024/11/23
Hanoi hosts the Vietnam Regional Specialties Fair 2024
This year's fair will contribute to the promotion of trade and the expansion of typical regional products, especially agricultural and food products that meet export standards.
14:06, 2024/11/20
Hanoi strengthens export competitiveness and trade protection measures
Hanoi will work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ensure that businesses and manufacturers are ready for new challenges.