Caf\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n
Caf\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n
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The biggest reason for the withdrawal was that Vietnam's caf\u00e9 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 Coffee<\/a>andPhuc Long<\/a>, it couldn't differentiate the brand.<\/p>\n Vietnamese internet users have offered various reactions to this news.<\/p>\n One reader commented, \"Vietnam's caf\u00e9 market is unique. In a country where you can drink a cup at a small roadside caf\u00e9 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.'\"<\/p>\n 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).\"<\/p>\n Caf\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n What deserves attention instead is the strength of Vietnamese caf\u00e9 culture that this news shows. Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee producer, and the quality and cost-perPh\u1edf<\/a>formance of local chains is at a very high level. Vietnam-born chains like Highlands Coffee,C\u1ed9ng C\u00e0 Ph\u00ea<\/a>, and Phuc Long have an appeal that surpasses foreign chains.<\/p>\n If you'll enjoy caf\u00e9s on a trip to Vietnam, do try the local chains. An environment where you can enjoy authenticVietnamese Coffee<\/a>from 29,000 dong (about 170 yen) a cup offers a cost performance unthinkable in Japan.<\/p>\nVietnamese readers' reactions<\/h2>\n
Impact and key points for Japanese tourists<\/h2>\n