Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese coffee shop

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. ...

and producer and distributor of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

products, established in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

David Thai in 1998. The establishment of the Highlands Coffee company marked the first time an

overseas Vietnamese Overseas Vietnamese ( vi, người Việt hải ngoại, or ) refers to Vietnamese people who live outside Vietnam. There are approximately 5 million overseas Vietnamese, the largest community of whom live in the United States. The oldest ...

was able to register a private company within Vietnam. As of 2018, the company operates 230 coffee shops across

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. In 2011, Highlands Coffee purchased the pho chain Phở 24 from Lý Quí Trung for an estimated US$20 million. The next year, Highlands sold 50% of its shares to the

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

multinational chain

Jollibee Jollibee is a Filipino chain of fast food restaurants owned by Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC). As of December 2021, JFC had a total of about 1,500 Jollibee outlets worldwide, with restaurants in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, East Asia ...

for US$25 million. In March 2012, under a partnership with Philippine

Internet café An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage is generall ...

company Digital Paradise, the first hybrid Highlands/Netopia internet café and coffee shop was opened in the Philippines.

History

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, David Thai, the company's founder, witnessed the rise of the

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...

coffee chain from a small company in his hometown of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

to a

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

. He later cited this as the inspiration behind the founding of Highlands Coffee, which first began operation in

in 1998. The company's initial registration marked the first time an

Overseas Vietnamese Overseas Vietnamese ( vi, người Việt hải ngoại, or ) refers to Vietnamese people who live outside Vietnam. There are approximately 5 million overseas Vietnamese, the largest community of whom live in the United States. The oldest ...

person was able to register a private company of any kind in Vietnam. Two years later, in 2000, the company was registered as a

joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...

, again a first for an Overseas Vietnamese. At the time of its foundation, Highlands limited itself to producing packaged coffee, to be sold through supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and cafés. It was four years later, in 2002, that the first Highlands Coffee coffee shop was established, across from

Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to th ...

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. By 2009, the company operated 80 coffee shops in six cities and provinces across Vietnam:

Hai Phong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

Da Nang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is on ...

Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the p ...

and Đồng Nai. By May 2010, the company offered 5 blended roast and ground and whole bean coffees (Heritage Blend, Traditional Blend, Gourmet Blend, Moka Blend, Culi Supreme), and 4

espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans a ...

s in ground and whole bean (Full City Roast, Arabica Supreme, a water-process DeCaf espresso produced at their in-house water process

decaffeination Decaffeination is the removal of caffeine from coffee beans, cocoa, tea leaves, and other caffeine-containing materials. Decaffeinated drinks contain typically 1–2% of the original caffeine content, and sometimes as much as 20%. Decaffeinate ...

facility, and Cinnamon Roast espresso). The espresso line also included ESE-compatible 45mm espresso pods packaged in Malaysia. In December 2009 the company introduced a Ready-To-Drink (RTD) "Iced Coffee" in an 8-ounce can, in two versions, one labeled "with Milk" and the other labeled "Black". By May 2010 the company stated that the RTD product had been distributed to more than 17 Asian countries and the USA. In 2011, Highlands Coffee purchased the pho chain Phở 24 from Lý Quí Trung for an estimated US$20 million. The next year, Highlands sold 50% of its shares to Jollibee Worldwide for US$25 million. In March 2012, under a partnership with Philippine

company Digital Paradise, the first hybrid Highlands/Netopia internet café and coffee shop was opened in the Philippines. In December 2022, it was reported that Jollibee was seeking to sell a 10-15% stake in Highlands to an undisclosed investor.

Organization

Highlands Coffee is a registered brand of Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company. Besides ownership of the Highlands Coffee brand, Viet Thai also owns sole franchising rights in Vietnam for several major international brands such as Nike, Aldo Shoes, La Vie en Rose lingerie, and

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. The company also operates restaurants and cafeterias in Vietnam, and caters to the local headquarters of

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 serie ...

. Executive staff include recruits from such companies as

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and

Brand Collaborations

Collaboration With Jollibee Foods Jollibee owns several of the markets of the fast-food chains in the Philippines. On November 22, 2019, it made its joint venture with the Vietnamese brand Highlands Coffee public. Jollibee had signed an agreement to make their joint venture firm ‘Superfoods Group’ to list at the Vietnam Stock Exchange. Superfoods is the owner of Highlands Coffee and other brands, such as Pho 24. In addition to being the fastest-growing joint-ventures of Jollibee, Superfoods has $55 million worth of annual sales. Moreover, with its revenues going 36% for its first nine months of operation, Highlands Coffee is currently basking in the growth rate of 78% from last year. As per the agreement between Jollibee and Highlands Coffee, Jollibee will be the owner of 60% of the joint venture ‘Superfoods’, while Highlands Coffee will have the remaining 40%. Superfoods, through the Highlands packaged products and coffee shops, aims to offer the Asian consumers great café and coffee experience at reasonable prices. Moreover, it also aims to provide the Asian consumer healthy and high-quality Vietnamese food through their Pho 24 brand. IP Ventures and Highlands Coffee IP Ventures—a private holding company in the Philippines—became the franchisee of Highlands Coffee in 2011. IP Ventures signed an agreement with the Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company, which owns the Highlands Coffee brand, to officially have the rights to operate the coffee chain in the Philippines. The agreement was signed in front of the president of Vietnam, Truong Tan Sang, at the Philippine-Vietnam business forum held at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila while he was on a state visit to the Philippines in 2011. Partnership With The Doughnut People Inc. The Doughnut People announced their partnership with the Highlands Coffee on July 3, 2013. The creators of the Go Nuts Donuts brand The Doughnut People Inc. has 26 stores in the Philippines in which they agreed to include the Highlands Coffee signature Vietnamese coffees and their ice blended Classic ‘Freeze’; while the Highlands Coffee stocked up on several of the Go Nuts Donuts products in their stores. The two brands aimed to capitalize on each other's strengths in order to form a synergized outcome to benefit both of them.

References

Highlands Coffee
Official website. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
Highlands Coffee Online
Official online distributor in USA. Retrieved 2010-07-9.
Dynamic Food Brokers
Official distributors in Australia. Retrieved 2010-07-9.

Notes

External links

Highlands Coffee
{{Jollibee, state=expanded Coffee companies of Vietnam Coffee brands Coffeehouses and cafés Restaurants in Vietnam Vietnamese brands Food and drink companies established in 1998 Restaurants established in 1998 Jollibee Foods Corporation subsidiaries Companies based in Hanoi Vietnamese companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Vietnam