No class again! Gah! That meant no searching the bus, and no going to UEF! Cadswallop I tell you! Instead, we had (essentially) a day visit with Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company. It was quite the inspiring tale. We spoke primarily with Dan Thai – who is the brother of founder David Thai – about the companies origins, growth, activities, partners, and composition. The company began when David Thai left America at the age of 21 with $700 dollars because he was bored. Honestly. It sounds like something I would do. He spent $300 of it in Korea, leaving him with $400 in US dollars chilling out in Hanoi in 1996. From there, he decided to make Vietnamese coffee into the product it was meant to be. Back then, Vietnamese coffee was sold in random café’s and on street corners, brewed with any number of awful additives (including fishsauce). David Thai wanted better coffee. Highlands Coffee, his start up brand of Starbucks style coffee stores (Starbucks style being loosely defined, Highlands is much better), is now worth well over $500 million dollars, and it is only found in Vietnam. The numbers are mind blowing. Viet Thai International, the company David and Dan Thai founded as an umbrella for all of their subsidiary companies, now serves as a partner for premium luxury brands to sell within Vietnam. Viet Thai has successfully opened franchise outlets for Nike, Aldo, and even a Hard Rock Café. The Hard Rock is where we initially went in the morning for Dan Thai’s presentation, a secondary talk with the general manager of that specific Hard Rock Café (there’s a second Café built in Hanoi), and lunch. The Peking Duck Wrap I ordered was typical Vietnamese composition; too much vegetation and too little meat. The meat and sauce that was actually in the wrap was spectacular, despite its small quantity. We then headed over to a nearby shopping center to see a few of the stores that Viet Thai owns and operates. Armani is still expensive… Then I had cheesecake at the Highlands Coffee downstairs, it was gelatinous on top but you get through it. We then shipped out to one of the main Highlands coffee locations, where they have a training center/conference room set up for training new staff. I had a look at one of their training presentations, and was rather surprised at their level of rigidity when dealing with appearance and hygiene. On the powerpoint slide of “Things Not To Do” there was a picture of George W. Bush picking his ear; I celebrated a silent victory on that one. We then had a more in depth talk about the Highlands brand specifically, along with various snippets of information on the coffee market in general and the future of Vietnam’s economy. After that, we had a short break before going out to dinner and karaoke with some of the Viet Thai staff. I booked it out the door and literally wandered aimlessly looking for any location to do a Western Union transfer. After fifteen minutes of turning random directions I came across Southern Bank on… Ly Tu Trong Avenue? I think? At any rate, I walked out a richer, more financially stable young man about twenty minutes later. I think it would be a great idea if two people pretended to be the same person, and both tried to withdraw from the same wire transfer at the same time in different locations. You could double your money for sure! I came back home and went straight out to karaoke with Viet Thai, featuring such hits as “Let It Be”, “Jessie’s Girl”, and “Xin Chao Viet Nam”. After that I… fell asleep again. Sigh…
No comments:
Post a Comment