Posted on 08/04/2013 8:38:47 PM PDT by TexGrill
HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) - Tycoon Henry Nguyen mopped floors, flipped burgers and even cleaned toilets over a 10-year campaign to convince McDonald's Corp to let him bring Big Macs and Happy Meals to communist Vietnam.
McDonald's is making a late entry into this market, where Yum Brands Inc already has dozens of Pizza Hut and KFC outlets and Burger King Worldwide Inc has 15 restaurants. Even Starbucks Corp debuted in Ho Chi Minh City in February and opened its second branch last week.
Capitalism has taken root in a country that many Americans associate more with an unpopular war than rising wealth. The super-rich are becoming household names in Vietnam, which showcased its first billionaire in June on the cover of its inaugural edition of Forbes magazine.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American who set up Pizza Hut in Vietnam six years ago, says he has lived and breathed McDonald's. He studied its business model as part of his master's degree, and pursued the Vietnam franchise opportunity for a decade - even as he worked with rival Yum. When he visited his hometown of Chicago, he would meet McDonald's executives at the company's headquarters in suburban Oak Brook, Illinois.
The Golden Arches will first appear in Ho Chi Minh City in early 2014 and later in the capital Hanoi, but the expansion will be "step by step", said Nguyen, who worked at McDonald's in the United States as a teenager and again this year at a Singapore outlet.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...
The story makes me very happy for him for his hard work to achieve success. Unreal how that spirit apparently has disappeared over here.
It’s not gone here. The local Vietnamese refugees are quite industrious...
Just keep in mind.
The investor is Vietnamese - American.
An (American-) American could not have done this. Just saying, we have accepted that other countries do not treat us equally, but then we treat others equally.
We should demand equal treatment. Not just in Vietnam, but in all countries.
Japan. Korea. China.
Just saying. All we are doing, is giving away America.
We are giving away what makes America special.
Sorry but this should change.
Very good point. Some pockets of industriousness do still exist. Praying fervently for more.
Nice thought but not true - Government intrusion has all but decreed that Capitalism will fail via regulations.
That’s the spirit, America First, so Obama gets more tax dollars to spend on free ice cream for his supporters, new PRISM technology and foreign aid for global jihadists.
I was surprised how upscale Pizza Hut restaurants were in China.
While the Vietnamese have been busy bringing Pho’ to America.
Returning the favor with a Big Mac is the least we can do.... Literally.
Aye, but the Vietnamese are used to working around the strictures of communism.
The current regime, for all their efforts, are pikers by comparison.
I wonder if we can get Korean pizza chain to open a location in Dallas/FW. I hear they have locations in LA and NYC....
Mr. Pizza.... or “Mister Picha” as they pronounce it.
Just because it would be funny to see Moon Geun-young (and others) on local TV.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCQ2q_z26zs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHsjCbsLt5Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcq-ymD-LqQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ECgTYezEtE
Just saying.
We are giving away America.
For what?
Don’t forget you can buy a Big Mac in Vietnam with the Dong currency. “Can I buy a Big Mac with my one dong please?”
Not really true... Even the Communists know how to limit regulation to their benefit (especially for startups). It is the so called advanced societies that have not a clue...
There are so many impediments to running a business in our country now that it might be easier to run one in a communist country. Sure, you may have to pay off some corrupt officials, but overall the cost of doing business might be less.
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