Café Amazon, Thailand's largest coffee chain, closed all its stores in Vietnam as of November 18, 2025, ending about five years of challenging the Vietnamese market. Why couldn't a giant chain with more than 4,000 stores across Southeast Asia win in Vietnam? We summarize the background and the impact on Japanese tourists.
News overview
Café Amazon is one of the world's largest coffee chains, operated by a subsidiary of a Thai state-owned energy company group. In Thailand, it expanded explosively in the form of stores attached to gas stations, and it runs about 4,000 stores at home.
ベトナムには2020年末に進出。セントラル・レストラン・グループ（ベトナム）が40%、タイ側のエネルギー関連企業が60%を出資する合弁会社「ORCG」を通じて事業を展開しました。しかし、2023年時点で22店舗あった店舗数は徐々に減少し、2025年11月時点では約12店舗にまで縮小。2025年9月30日にタイ証券取引所への届出で合弁会社の清算を正式発表し、11月18日に全店舗の営業を終了しました。
The biggest reason for the withdrawal was that Vietnam's café market is in a competitive environment so intense it's called a "red ocean." The gas-station-attached model that succeeded in Thailand didn't work in Vietnam, and against the overwhelming presence of local chains likeHighlands CoffeeandPhuc Long, it couldn't differentiate the brand.
Vietnamese readers' reactions
Vietnamese internet users have offered various reactions to this news.
One reader commented, "Vietnam's café market is unique. In a country where you can drink a cup at a small roadside café for 15,000 dong (about 90 yen), it's not easy for a foreign chain to win." Another reader pointed out, "The taste and service weren't bad, but compared to Highlands and Phuc Long, there was no 'reason to come here.'"
There were also opinions like "Vietnamese coffee culture runs deep. There's a phin-drip culture continuing from the French colonial era, and brands coming from outside fail if they don't understand this culture," and an expert analysis that became a topic: "Mixue is reducing its store count too. For foreign players, the Vietnamese F&B market requires understanding the peculiarity of the '4F' (Food, Fashion, Fun, Furniture)."
Impact and key points for Japanese tourists
Café Amazon was a familiar brand for Japanese people with experience traveling in Thailand, but there may have been little reason to deliberately visit it on a trip to Vietnam. The direct impact of this withdrawal on Japanese tourists is limited.
What deserves attention instead is the strength of Vietnamese café culture that this news shows. Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee producer, and the quality and cost-perPhởformance of local chains is at a very high level. Vietnam-born chains like Highlands Coffee,Cộng Cà Phê, and Phuc Long have an appeal that surpasses foreign chains.
If you'll enjoy cafés on a trip to Vietnam, do try the local chains. An environment where you can enjoy authenticVietnamese Coffeefrom 29,000 dong (about 170 yen) a cup offers a cost performance unthinkable in Japan.
Reference:Chuỗi Café Amazon của Thái Lan rút khỏi Việt Nam – VnExpress
