The only country where McDonald’s and Burger King failed. What happened?

In this country, McDonald’s and Burger King underestimated local competitors. Here, the giant international chains are not fast food.

The continued success of the restaurants fast food It is undeniably due in large part – if not entirely – to the North American chains McDonald’s that it Burger King.

It’s been a long time since McDonald’s went from selling a diet meant exclusively to Americans to being beloved around the world. You Preparation Last year confirmed this: 40,275 restaurants From prison serve 69 million people a dayresulting in revenue greater than 20 billion euros annually.

Burger King goes the same way. Despite having half of competitors’ restaurants, it earns more than 1.7 billion a year with your 15.7 million daily customers.

The numbers don’t lie and the restaurants are really successful More than 100 countries In which they conduct operations – minus one.

In the VietnamAnd McDonald’s and Burger King have only 20 and 11 establishments, respectively, and seem to be unable to compete with local restaurants.

When McDonald’s opened its doors in the Asian country in 2014, it had to be accepted: Madness. The Vietnamese waited hours to savor the classic hamburger and McDonald’s already had plans to open 100 establishments over 10 years, but quickly – and contrary to the company’s successful trend in Asian countries – Withered enthusiasm.

So did its competitor, Burger King, which allegedly planned to open 16 restaurants by 2016. So far, it has never achieved that goal. But what happened?

“Slow food” for envy or lack of chicken?

Deep down, the justification for this strange phenomenon points to little or nothing more sandwiches That it’s moloved by the Vietnamese and easily and quickly obtained all over the country.

“in the United States , fast food It’s popular because you can get it [a comida] on time. Vietnamese food is the same. You could have a bowl of your own pho or your Bánh mì maybe Faster than McDonald’s“, He says CNBCin 2018, co-founder of Vietnamese digital media company Vietcetera, How Tranexplaining how this “beats the value proposition” of the US chains in Vietnam.

Of the money the Vietnamese spent on food, 78% ia, in 2018, for domestic vendorsaccording to the European Commission. Only 1% have gone to prison fast food – Numbers largely due to the plentiful presence of local food stalls, which overlap with the number of restaurants in fast food.

In the last quarter of 2022, there were 550,000 food and beverage establishments in the country. The number of traditional restaurants was 430,000; Only 82 thousand were fast food chains, second Vietnamese Cuisine Culture Association.

to Kentuckythe first chain to open in Vietnam, registered great difficulties to install. The mark established to open 10 national restaurants was reached just seven years after the opening of the first store.

The solution for the giant producer of the famous Kentucky Fried Chicken was simple and effective: Change menu To make it even more attractive in the already crowded Vietnamese food industry. In April 2022, the company already had, according to nationAnd 153 stores – The second chain of restaurants with the largest number of establishments in the country.

But it wasn’t just the introduction of new products that attracted the demanding Vietnamese customer. You the prices Practices count a lot At half the price, a meal purchased from local vendors will feed twice as many people, according to Numbeo.

a engagement factor Also suitable for professionals. While the traditional food, mainly chicken, is meant to be shared between families, the mainstream diet of hamburgers that Vietnamese find at McDonald’s and Burger King is “Individually” – He doesn’t seem to like the locals.