Four decades after the Vietnam war ended, US fast-food giant McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the communist country Saturday, aiming to lure a rising middle class away from rice and noodles.
The arrival of one of the most potent symbols of US capitalism in southern Ho Chi Minh City -- known as Saigon when American troops dramatically withdrew in 1975 -- is the result of a partnership with the son-in-law of Vietnam's powerful Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
McDonald's is following US rivals Burger King, KFC and coffee giant Starbucks into Vietnam -- a country many Americans associate more with an unpopular war than a newly wealthy middle class.
Signs of the country's rising affluence were on display Saturday as hundreds of people -- mostly young students or families with children -- queued at the McDonald's store on Dien Bien Phu street, named after the battle that ended French colonial rule in Indochina.
"I like fast-food. I don't like Vietnamese food. I don't like fish sauce," Nguyen Hoang Long told AFP as he devoured a Big Mac meal, referring to the pungent condiment made from fermented fish and sea salt that is used liberally in local cooking.
"McDonald's in Vietnam is seen as a high-class restaurant. In the US, it's just normal," added the 25-year-old, who acquired a love of fast food while studying in California.
A Big Mac costs about $2.85 at the Vietnamese outlet, while a bowl of traditional pho noodle soup can be bought on most street corners for around $1.50.
The relatively high price of a burger positions McDonald's as an aspirational dining option accessible only to the middle class, prominent economist Le Dang Doanh told AFP.
'Still used to rice and noodles'
For the first time last year, absolute consumption of rice in Vietnam began to slowly decline as the newly wealthy seek out alternative sources of carbohydrate, according to a 2013 World Bank report.
But the Vietnamese "are still used to eating rice and noodles," Doanh said. "McDonald's will have to find solutions for this market."
Critics say that Vietnam's rapid economic growth since "Doi Moi" reforms opened up the country in the early 1990s masks rising inequality and inefficiencies in an economy still dominated by state-owned enterprises.
Yet with a 90 million-strong population and average per capita income of more than $1,500, "Vietnam is on the radar now" for US franchises, said Sean Ngo, managing director of consulting firm Vietnam Franchises Ltd.
The price Vietnam is paying for prosperity is rising rates of diabetes and obesity -- particularly in affluent urban areas like Ho Chi Minh City, where nearly 10 percent of children are now classed as overweight, according to state media.
Hong Diep, a 33-year-old mother of two who had taken her fast-food loving children to the McDonald's opening, said she only let her son and daughter eat burgers and fries as a special treat.
"I know it's not healthy," she said. "In terms of nutrition, no food can compare to the Vietnamese dishes I cook them at home."
From flipping burgers to Vietnam boss
McDonald's local partner, Henry Nguyen, once flipped burgers for McDonald's while growing up in the United States, where his family fled at the end of the war.
Also known as Nguyen Bao Hoang, he returned to his native country more than a decade ago and was outside the store Saturday directing traffic -- mostly motorbikes and the odd cyclo -- into the drive-thru.
The arrival of McDonald's marks a full turnaround for the fortunes of US brands in former wartime foe Vietnam.
Iconic brands such as Coca-Cola were available in US-allied South Vietnam until the end of the war, but the companies pulled out after the communist victory which paved the way for the unification of the country in 1975.
The arrival of McDonald's in a country where a war was once fought over capitalism "means that globalisation really is nearly complete," said cultural critic and award winning author Anne Elizabeth Moore.
Four decades after the Vietnam war ended, US fast-food giant McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the communist country Saturday, aiming to lure a rising middle class away from rice and noodles.
The arrival of one of the most potent symbols of US capitalism in southern Ho Chi Minh City — known as Saigon when American troops dramatically withdrew in 1975 — is the result of a partnership with the son-in-law of Vietnam’s powerful Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
McDonald’s is following US rivals Burger King, KFC and coffee giant Starbucks into Vietnam — a country many Americans associate more with an unpopular war than a newly wealthy middle class.
Signs of the country’s rising affluence were on display Saturday as hundreds of people — mostly young students or families with children — queued at the McDonald’s store on Dien Bien Phu street, named after the battle that ended French colonial rule in Indochina.
“I like fast-food. I don’t like Vietnamese food. I don’t like fish sauce,” Nguyen Hoang Long told AFP as he devoured a Big Mac meal, referring to the pungent condiment made from fermented fish and sea salt that is used liberally in local cooking.
“McDonald’s in Vietnam is seen as a high-class restaurant. In the US, it’s just normal,” added the 25-year-old, who acquired a love of fast food while studying in California.
A Big Mac costs about $2.85 at the Vietnamese outlet, while a bowl of traditional pho noodle soup can be bought on most street corners for around $1.50.
The relatively high price of a burger positions McDonald’s as an aspirational dining option accessible only to the middle class, prominent economist Le Dang Doanh told AFP.
‘Still used to rice and noodles’
For the first time last year, absolute consumption of rice in Vietnam began to slowly decline as the newly wealthy seek out alternative sources of carbohydrate, according to a 2013 World Bank report.
But the Vietnamese “are still used to eating rice and noodles,” Doanh said. “McDonald’s will have to find solutions for this market.”
Critics say that Vietnam’s rapid economic growth since “Doi Moi” reforms opened up the country in the early 1990s masks rising inequality and inefficiencies in an economy still dominated by state-owned enterprises.
Yet with a 90 million-strong population and average per capita income of more than $1,500, “Vietnam is on the radar now” for US franchises, said Sean Ngo, managing director of consulting firm Vietnam Franchises Ltd.
The price Vietnam is paying for prosperity is rising rates of diabetes and obesity — particularly in affluent urban areas like Ho Chi Minh City, where nearly 10 percent of children are now classed as overweight, according to state media.
Hong Diep, a 33-year-old mother of two who had taken her fast-food loving children to the McDonald’s opening, said she only let her son and daughter eat burgers and fries as a special treat.
“I know it’s not healthy,” she said. “In terms of nutrition, no food can compare to the Vietnamese dishes I cook them at home.”
From flipping burgers to Vietnam boss
McDonald’s local partner, Henry Nguyen, once flipped burgers for McDonald’s while growing up in the United States, where his family fled at the end of the war.
Also known as Nguyen Bao Hoang, he returned to his native country more than a decade ago and was outside the store Saturday directing traffic — mostly motorbikes and the odd cyclo — into the drive-thru.
The arrival of McDonald’s marks a full turnaround for the fortunes of US brands in former wartime foe Vietnam.
Iconic brands such as Coca-Cola were available in US-allied South Vietnam until the end of the war, but the companies pulled out after the communist victory which paved the way for the unification of the country in 1975.
The arrival of McDonald’s in a country where a war was once fought over capitalism “means that globalisation really is nearly complete,” said cultural critic and award winning author Anne Elizabeth Moore.
