Day Eight

The start of our second week here was spent with the Viet Thai International.  This company was started by David Thai who was born in Vietnam, moved to the States as a child and then return to Vietnam to start a coffee business.  That one coffee chain, Highlands Coffee, turned into a franchise that include multiple branches.  Basically, there is one main company, Viet Thai, at the top, then that is broken into four branches.  In one of the branches, Viet Thai teams up with a well known company like Nike and helps them develop stores in Vietnam.  We learned that it is very difficult for businesses like Nike to be successful in Vietnam because they do not understand that most people in this country make only about 1 to 2 dollars a day.  We had our meeting with Dan Thai at The Hard Rock Cafe in Ho Chi Minh which is run by the Viet Thai company.  The Hard Rock here is much like the Cafes in the States.  There is music memorabilia everywhere and the food is very good.  We also got to go the the Hard Rock Shop and buy what ever Hard Rock gear we wanted. 

After lunch at the Hard Rock we went to the Highlands Coffee training center in Ho Chi Minh City.  We talked to the Director of Highlands Coffee and he told us about how the company operates in the city and showed us how they make one of their most popular drinks.  He also told us about his background and what it was like to live in Vietnam and work for Viet Thai.  From the training center we all split up and I finally made it to the market.  It was interesting trying to bargain with the local venders and I ended up getting some very cool items.  Later on that night we were invited to karaoke with the Viet Thai company and it was a lot of fun!