Pasalao

ບໍມີໃຜຮູ້ຖ້າຫວຽດນາມມີຕະຫລາດແລະປະສົບຜົນສຳເລັດ ນັກລົງທືນອາດຈະປຽ່ນທິດເຂົ້າມາໃນລາວ

ຕາມຄາດຄະເນຄົງຊິບໍາກາຍສິບປີເລິ້ມນັບແຕ່ປີໜ້າ.

HANOI— McDonald's Corp. MCD +1.03% said it plans early next year to open its first restaurant in Vietnam, after awarding the franchise to the son-in-law of the nation's prime minister.

Vietnam will be its 38th country in Asia, McDonald's said. Fast-food trailblazer KFC, which now has 130 outlets in Vietnam, arrived in 1997, a year before Philippines-based Jollibee and South Korea's Lotteria. Burger King BKW +0.36% opened its first restaurant here last year, and now has 12.

McDonald's said it sees an opportunity to grow in Vietnam as the average income rises and local tastes change. McDonald's remains too costly for most Vietnamese, and they continue to prefer their traditional foods.

The company said it had chosen Henry Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American investor and the son-in-law of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, as its main franchise partner in the country, based on a "rigorous" selection process.

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McDonald's declaring itself in a Chinese train station; the fast-food chain says it will land next door in Vietnam, its 38th country in Asia, early next year. Associated Press

"The time is right for us now in Vietnam, having identified a strong partner and viable business opportunity," said McDonald's spokesman Liam Jeory.

Vietnam—a country of 92 million whose economy has grown at an average annual rate of 7% over the past decade—began opening to foreign investors two decades ago, but investment rose significantly after the communist-led country joined the World Trade Organization in 2007.

Last year Vietnam made investment-law changes that included the easing of restrictions on companies like McDonald's that rely on a global supply chain.

"After more than five years of entering the WTO, Vietnam has now realized that it needs big global names such as McDonald's and Starbucks SBUX +2.31% to show that it's really a market economy," said Vuong Quan Hoang, an economist with DHVP Research & Consultancy.

Starbucks opened a two-story outlet in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, in February.

Though McDonald's hasn't named a precise location for its first restaurant, it too will be in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's economic hub. The city's population of nearly eight million, dominated by young people, is regarded as more entrepreneurial and open-minded than elsewhere in Vietnam. McDonald's is hoping that includes being open to Big Macs, cheeseburgers and fries.

"I believe that McDonald's will have a major market share here, as there is demand for fast foods and for exploring real American lifestyle among a large portion of urban Vietnamese people," Mr. Hoang said.

Young people in Vietnam are eager to try new foods, he said, and also to explore new things from a dramatically different culture.

Though it is easier than it once was for Vietnamese to travel outside the country, and though many in the Vietnamese diaspora have returned from overseas—including the U.S.—to start businesses, certain elements of the American way of life haven't been widely available here since the early 1970s, before U.S. troops withdrew. And, even back then, McDonald's didn't have any presence in the country, according to spokesman Mr. Jeory.

"I have heard about McDonald's for a long time, and it's no surprise that it will finally come to Vietnam," said Le Mai Phuong, a student at Thang Long University in Hanoi. "I'll try it if it comes to Hanoi."

Ms. Phuong said that when she has time, she and her friends love local foods, such as pho or bun cha (grilled pork with herbs, dipping sauce and noodles), but when they are in a hurry they sometimes have lunch at Burger King or KFC, "as it is convenient and doesn't take much time, while prices are acceptable."

But 12-year-old secondary-school student Tran Quoc Huy, shrugged at the news of the impending arrival of McDonald's. "I tried it when I went to Hong Kong recently, and it wasn't as good as I had expected," he said.

One restaurant owner said the biggest obstacle for any fast-food restaurant in Vietnam is the difficulty of getting around the cities, which teem with motorbikes, cars and bicycles and don't offer quick public transportation.

"Nobody wants to travel long distances on their motorbikes on the busy and smoky streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi only to have lunch at a fast-food restaurant," the owner said. "I think most of these restaurants' customers are from schools or offices nearby."

Still, early sales at Starbucks exceeded expectations, Chief Executive and Chairman Howard Schultz said in May, though he didn't provide figures.

—Nguyen Anh Thu
contributed to this article.

Corrections & Amplifications
KFC, a unit of Yum Brands Inc., has 130 outlets in Vietnam. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it has 100.