Vietnamese consumers eat out, visit cafes more often

The survey of nearly 3,000 restaurants, eateries and coffee shops and 4,000 consumers across the country found that 28.9% of respondents ate out three to four times a week, up 11 percentage points from 2022, and 28.5% did so once or twice a week, up 10.1 percentage points.

Some 17.1% ate out every day, roughly the same as in 2022.

Besides, 30.4% of participants went to coffee shops once or twice a week, up 7.8 percentage points.

Consumers were also willing to spend extra during their visits, with 66% spending more than VND31,000 (US$1.24) for lunch, up from 56% in 2022, and 39.6% paying more than VND51,000 for dinner, up 16.3 percentage point.

At coffee shops, 59.5% spent more than VND41,000 per visit, up from last year’s 58%.

These behaviors have given a fillip to the F&B and coffee industries.

The coffee market grew by 6.6% to be worth VND11.56 trillion, and is expected to reach VND12.4 trillion this year, according to London-based market research firm Euromonitor.

The iPOS report pointed out that last year the F&B industry’s revenues increased by 11.6% to VND590.9 trillion.

Over 80% of F&B firms reported better performances in 2023, it said.

Almost 52% plan to expand this year while 33.5% were either satisfied with their performance or concerned about potential upscaling risks.

Euromonitor forecast the F&B market to grow by 10.92% this year and 10.25% annually until 2027 to VND872.9 trillion.

Nguyen Thai Binh, an F&B analyst, attributed the industry’s growth partly to the influx of international tourists, especially from South Korea, Europe and the U.S., who are willing to spend generously to experience Vietnamese cuisine.