McDonald's feels bullish about Vietnam: businessman

Fastfood heavyweight McDonald's has inaugurated its first Vietnam restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City with the concept of good food fast 24 hours a day, everyday.
Fastfood heavyweight McDonald's has inaugurated its first Vietnamrestaurant in Ho Chi Minh City with the concept of good food fast 24hours a day, everyday.

According to the Vietnam InvestmentReview (VIR), long lines of customers of every age group gathered at therestaurant at the intersection of Dien Bien Phu and Nguyen Binh Khiemstreets before the opening time on February 8, although the 3,000-sq.mproperty offers car and motorbike drive-thru with athree-minute-per-customer service plan.

Many of the early comerswere eager to take a look inside the 350-seat restaurant, designed as adining destination with different services and offerings including acafé and children’s playground.

A majority of the ingredientsused by McDonald's food in Vietnam are imports, including Australianbeef and US pork and french fries, said local chairman Henry Nguyen.

Headded that the restaurant chain was committed to working withVietnamese and global partners to develop local suppliers who can serveMcDonald's restaurants in Vietnam and throughout the world.

“Theopening of our first restaurant in Vietnam is just the beginning of thejourney we are taking with our customers. We’ll work hard to continuallystay relevant to our customers’ needs and exceed their expectations,”he announced.

The menu offers the McPork line of burgers, createdto cater to Vietnamese tastes, as well as iconic choices such as theBig Mac and french fries, Nguyen added.

To further promote thebrand, McDonald's Vietnam will partner with the Vietnam University Gamesto promote active lifestyles through sports among students and youthnationwide.

McDonald's is now building its second Vietnamrestaurant near Ben Thanh Market, at the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, for anear future opening. The company did not disclose the exact date.

Interms of a timeline for Hanoi, Nguyen told VIR that it was still earlyto say and that it would come in the next three to four years.

“Wefeel very bullish about Vietnam,” Bob Larson, McDonald's Corp seniorvice president and international relationship partner, was quoted by theVIR as saying.

McDonald’s serves nearly 68 million people inabout 120 countries daily. While the fastfood giant has an immensepresence in greater Asia, McDonald’s is late to the market in Vietnam,where a bevy of fastfood operations are already based.

TrailblazerKFC, another US fast food brand, has also rapidly expanded in Vietnam.The first KFC restaurant was established in Ho Chi Minh City in 1997 andin June 2011 the franchise marked its 100th restaurant in Vietnam.Meanwhile, Burger King has 29 restaurants in the country.-VNA

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