Singaporean coffee and dessert chain New York Dessert Coffee (NYDC) has ended its seven-year-run in Vietnam with the closing of its very last store last week.

NYDC announced the shutdown of its store in the Metropolitan Tower in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, and bade customers farewell on its Facebook page on July 20, promising that it would return someday.

The Singaporean chain previously closed three outlets in May – Nguyen Trai, Cantavil, and Crescent – all of which were located in Ho Chi Minh City.

In 2009, NYDC arrived in Vietnam with the investment of Singapore’s SUTL Group and quickly became one of the most popular foreign coffee chains in the southern metropolis.

It is also well known for expensive but tasty American dessert food such as cheesecakes and mud-pies.

SUTL Group, which had previously brought the fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to Vietnam, hoped that it would replicate KFC’s success with NYDC.

The Singaporean conglomerate planned to open twenty stores in office buildings and malls within the next five years, costing around US$250,000 to $300,000 for each store.

SUTL’s ambition was quickly scuppered however, as NYDC failed to compete with other local and international coffee chains.

According to Inside Retail, a news site focusing on the retail industry, the dominance of local coffee chains, such as The Coffee House, Urban Station, Phuc Long, and Trung Nguyen, and the recent arrival of prominent international coffee chains, including the wildly popular Starbucks, spelled doom for NYDC.

The demise of NYDC sends a warning to foreign firms looking to establish their franchises in Vietnam.

Despite Vietnam being one of the hottest franchising markets in Southeast Asia, careful planning and perfect execution are required if any brand wants to do well. 

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