Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese coffee shop chain and producer and distributor of coffee products, established in Hanoi by Vietnamese American David Thai in 1998. The founding of the Highlands Coffee company marked the first time an Overseas Vietnamese was able to register a private company within Vietnam.[1] As of 2009, the company operated 80 coffee shops in six cities and provinces across Vietnam.
History
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, David Thai, the company's founder, witnessed the rise of the Starbucks coffee chain from a small company in his hometown of Seattle to a multinational corporation. He later cited this as the inspiration behind the founding of Highlands Coffee, which first began operation in Hanoi in 1998.[3] The company's initial registration marked the first time an Overseas Vietnamese was able to register a private company of any kind in Vietnam. Two years later, in 2000, the company was registered as a joint stock company, again a first for an Overseas Vietnamese.
At the time of its foundation, Highlands limited itself to producing packaged coffee, to be sold through supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and cafés.[3] It was four years later, in 2002, that the first Highlands Coffee coffee shop was established, across from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City.[1] As of 2009, the company operated 80 coffee shops in six cities and provinces across Vietnam: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Vung Tau and Dong Nai
