The Trung Nguyen group, Vietnam’s famous coffee business, plans to open 3,000 E-Coffee shops by 2020, before bringing the franchise chain to overseas market.

A view of an E-Coffee shop (Source: cafebiz.vn)

Targeting low and middle income consumers who prefer take-away drinks, each shop costs its owner between 65 and 175 million VND (2,815 – 7,581 USD) for an area ranging from 4 to 40 square metres.

E-Coffee shops, first launched in 2017 and dubbed the place for energy coffee that changes life by the company, sell not only coffee but also coffee-making equipment.

Trung Nguyen coffee products have so far entered about 60 markets worldwide.

Most of Vietnam's coffee beans are of the Robusta variety, known for being relatively easy to grow and resistant to disease and pests -- qualities that ensure stable crops. The beans make for a heady, somewhat bitter coffee in contrast to Brazil's more costly Arabica beans, which tend to have a sweeter, softer flavour.

In 2018, the country had 680,000 hectares of coffee plantations with a yield of 2.5 tonnes per hectare. It exported 1.8 million tonnes of coffee for 3.5 billion USD.