The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has licensed 17 foreign enterprises specialising in franchises to operate in Viet Nam so far this year, according to statistics from the ministry.

The franchise market features both domestic and foreign enterprises. The ministry said 213 businesses with hundreds of trademarks had been licensed for franchising in Viet Nam over the last decade.

A series of world-famous brands in the fields of fast food, hotels, restaurants, cosmetics and clothes had been entering the Vietnamese market.

These brands include McDonald’s, Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King, Swensen’s, Lotteria, Tous Les Jours, BBQ Chicken, Warehouse, Topshop and Coast London.

According to economic expert Le Dang Doanh, franchising helped businesses tap capital and human resources from their partners to expand, thus increasing sales and profits from franchise fees to improve the value of their brands and their position in the market.

This was a very smart way of mobilising capital and human resources from foreign investors, Doanh added.

This model also minimised the risks to franchisees, he noted.

Experts said franchising in Viet Nam would ramp up in the next three years, especially brands from Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.— VNS