US chain's foothold in north marks start of foreign fast-food retail invasion
It is lunchtime at KFC's new Hanoi outlet and the queues are long.
The US-based fried-chicken outlet has been packing the customers in consistently since late last month when the well-known brand name made its debut in the capital, the first high-profile fast-food chain to do so.
'It's new and it has good food,' said one teenage customer. 'I've been here a few times already. They should open more locations.'
Plans were afoot to do just that - three more outlets in Hanoi by the end of the year and 100 nationwide by 2010, said KFC Vietnam.
And experts believe it is just the tip of the iceberg. Vietnam, still almost bereft of the big-name chain stores now widespread throughout Asia, appears primed for a foreign retail invasion.