Soya Garden sets sight on cuisine segment after exiting Ho Chi Minh City

Soya Garden has suffered hefty losses for two years now

In addition to serving soybean-based drinks, the newly-established outlets will also offer savoury dishes such as Japanese ramen noodles, bun rieu (crab-meat noodles), and diverse kinds of sushi. Entering the restaurant segment is good preparation as soon as the local economy and the local tourism industry will recover from the health crisis.

Accordingly, Soya Garden is accelerating cooperation with food delivery platforms and intends to partner up with food and beverage (F&B) consultants to develop the restaurants.

The move takes place right after the brand has just shut down its final beverage store in Ho Chi Minh City, while retaining only eight outlets in Hanoi. Just a few days ago, its flagship store at 325 Ly Tu Trong (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) was filled by banners advertising that it is available for lease.

Facing fierce competition in the F&B sector and the COVID-19 lockdown, the drink brand shut down 42 stores in late 2019. To date, it has only eight stores in Hanoi, including franchise ones.

In a talk with VIR, Soya Garden’s representative said that the closing of its beverage stores and resetting focus on the newly-established Soya Bistro is part of the restructuring plan to optimise expenses for staff members and land leasing. The new strategy is necessary as food delivery is becoming common.

Local media cited a company representative saying that maintaining costly positions is unnecessary and unsuitable in the current situation. Therefore, Soya Garden decided to “close outlets located in large premises to optimise operating costs and improve the revenue”, said the company representative.

Soya Garden spent about $25,000 per month for the location at Ly Tu Trong street since 2019 as soon as the Phuc Long store chain terminated its land leasing contract there, which paid $14,000 a month for the location.