ENTREPRENEURIAL PROFILE: Tony Chew: KFC Vietnam
One of the more active regions for international franchising is Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia and Laos are all seeing rapid growth in American franchise restaurants. One of the most popular franchises is KFC. Kentucky Fried Chicken first came to Vietnam in 1997 through the vision of Singapore entrepreneur and franchisee Tony Chew. When Chew opened the first KFC there was limited power supply, poor roads, an untrained workforce, and a weak business climate. KFC Vietnam (KFCV) currently operates 140 restaurants and employees 4,000 workers.[i]
[i] Lan Anh Nguyen, “At the Front of Vietnam’s Food Queue,” Forbes, April 30, 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/lananhnguyen/2014/04/30/at-the-front-of-vietnams-food-queue/; John Vomhof Jr., “Franchise success stories in ASEAN countries,” HSBC Global Connections, January 2, 2014, https://globalconnections.hsbc.com/us/en/articles/franchise-success-stories-asean-countries</.