A Vietnamese coffee and tea chain officially sets foot in India

India's FranGlobal has chosen to acquire the exclusive franchise of the Three O'Clock brand for four countries, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with a commitment to develop at least 100 branches within 10 years.

Vietnamese franchises have a great opportunity to step out into the world - Photo: HK

On January 14, Teatime Joint Stock Company, owner of the 24/7 Three O'Clock coffee chain, officially signed its first international franchise contract with FranGlobal Company. This contract allows FranGlobal to develop the Three O'Clock brand in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The agreement between the two parties aims to open at least 100 stores within 10 years. With a population of more than 1.9 billion people, most of whom are young, the Indian subcontinent is considered a region with high potential for franchising development.

Gaurav Marya, chairman of the board of directors of FranGlobal, said that despite being famous for its tea of ​​all kinds, the Indian subcontinent market mainly drinks hot tea, while young customers (50% of the population is under 25 years old) choose cold drinks.

In addition, the market of a billion people and the fifth largest economy in the world is gradually shifting to using more coffee.

"The diverse products, beautiful space, sophisticated packaging and attractiveness of the brand from Vietnam are very suitable for the tastes in this market," Mr. Gaurav Marya explained to Tuoi Tre Online .

The first store in India is expected to open in May 2025, focusing on major cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

The strategy will be to build large clusters of stores not only in central areas, but also in shopping malls and transportation locations such as airports. In the first year, the focus will be on perfecting the product and training, then ramping up the business.

The Three O'Clock brand was founded in 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City and currently has 10 stores operating 24/7.

Ms. Thuan Nguyen, founder and CEO of the brand, shared that expanding abroad is a strategic step to affirm the position of Vietnamese coffee brands in the international market.

In recent years, the Vietnamese franchise industry has become increasingly vibrant with the participation of international franchise brands in the Vietnamese market.

However, bringing Vietnamese franchise brands to the world market still has many limitations, partly because Vietnamese franchise brands have not yet built a professional foundation and do not know how to package and sell international franchises.

According to Ms. Nguyen Phi Van, Chairman of Go Global Holdings, in addition to Three O'clock's "finalized" deal, it is expected that by 2025, Vietnam will have about 4-5 brands also in the process of negotiating and signing franchise contracts abroad, contributing to creating a strong franchise industry, contributing significantly to the national GDP.

Potential markets such as the Philippines and the Middle East are being targeted by Vietnamese brands.

Ms. Van believes that the chain franchise model is solving the problem of increasing the value of Vietnamese agricultural products. Although Vietnam ranks second in the world in coffee exports, building a coffee model or a brand strong enough to attract international investors and develop sustainably is a big problem for domestic small and medium enterprises.

Statistics from Technavio show that the global franchising industry reached a value of 2.92 trillion USD in 2023, and is expected to grow at an average of 9.58%/year, to 4.38 trillion USD in 2027.

In countries with developed franchise industries such as the US, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, South Africa, or in Asian regions such as Korea, China, Philippines, Malaysia, the industry's contribution to national GDP can be from 3-10%.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mot-chuoi-ca-phe-tra-cua-viet-nam-chinh-thuc-dat-chan-den-an-do-20250114142617836.htm