From Bloomberg
McDonald’s will open its doors in Vietnam Feb. 8. Photo from Bloomberg.
McDonald’s Corp. will enter a new Southeast Asia country for the first time in two decades when it adds a Vietnam restaurant this weekend to catch up with chains including Burger King Worldwide Inc.
The world’s largest restaurant chain starts service in Saigon Feb. 8. The first branch in Vietnam’s biggest city will have 350 seats, said Henry Nguyen, owner of McDonald’s local partner Good Day Hospitality.
Nguyen, son-in-law of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, said expanding the chain to at least 100 branches within a decade was an achievable, if tough, goal. Vietnam’s appetite lured Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s International Dairy Queen Inc. to open in Saigon last month, joining a field of U.S. brands that since 2010 has added CKE Inc.’s Carl’s Jr.; Domino’s Pizza Inc.; Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc.’s Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin- Robbins; Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc., Subway Restaurants, and Starbucks Corp.
“McDonald’s in Vietnam is going to be packed with parents, many of whom will not be eating because the food doesn’t appeal to them but who will be happy because watching their kids munch away on burgers makes them feel they’re part of something positive and modern,” said Markus Taussig, an assistant business professor at the National University of Singapore and a former Vietnam resident.
Burger King has 29 restaurants in the nation after opening its first in 2011, while Yum! Brands Inc.’s KFC fried chicken chain has been in the country since 1997.
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