Many Vietnamese spend more on drinks than main meals: report

Another 33% of respondents are willing to spend VND20,000-40,000 on drinks, according to the survey of 3,940 consumers conducted by food and beverage market solutions firm iPOS.

Only 14% said they would splurge more than VND70,000 for a drink, the equivalent of the price of a drink at high-end coffee shops such as Starbucks and Runam Bistro, it added.

Nearly 54% of respondents said they visit coffee shops once to twice a month.

According to the survey, Vietnamese people spend more money on drinks than on their main meals.

They prefer to spend VND10,000-30,000 for their breakfast and VND31,000-50,000 for lunch and dinner.

Vu Thanh Hung, CEO of iPOS, said that the daily main meals are usually popular dishes such as com tam (broken rice) or pho (noodle soup) at sidewalk stalls which have cheap prices while many Vietnamese have a tendency to drink coffee or milk tea at high-end establishments with prices of VND40,000-70,000 for each drink.

On special occasions like birthday or Tet break, half of respondents are willing to spend VND101,000-300,000 each time.

The report also showed many positive signs for the food and beverage industry in 2022.

By the end of last year, Vietnam had about 338,600 food and beverage venues, according to data from British market research firm Euromonitor International.

The number of stores tended to increase gradually with a compound annual growth rate of about 2% between 2016 and 2022.

The industry's revenue reached nearly VND610,000 billion, an increase of 39% compared to 2021.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the food and beverage industry witnessed a slowdown compared to the same period last year due to the impact of the global economy slowdown.