The Givral touch

What are the key features of Givral?

The famous Givral brand was created in the 1950s by a French pastry master named Alain Poitier. He had lived in Vietnam for many years. Therefore, more than simply being a coffee shop, it is part of the history of Saigon in particular and Vietnam in general. When Saigon was known as the Pearl of the Far East, the cafe was a hotbed of political intrigue and a gathering place of international reporters and artists. World renowned war correspondent Tim Page used to visit and many artists were inspired here.

Today, Givral offers a wide range of luxury foods like fresh cakes, birthday cakes, Christmas cakes, wedding cakes, moon cakes, bread and pies. In addition, you'll be also impressed by our attentive service and our staffs enthusiasm and friendli¬ness at all the shops in the Givral chain.

In addition, when you receive a box of Givral cookies or mooncakes as a gift, you will recognise the long-lasting cul-tural value of the gift that the sender would like to convey to you as a message through time and space.

It is historical value that is most important to Givral, mak¬ing it distinct from other brands. Givral has its own soul, taste and culture. And this is the motivation for us to develop and expand the Givral Cafe chain, since we want to bring this his¬toric brand closer to more customers nationwide.

What are your expansion plans?

We will continue to expand the restaurant chain in major cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Ha Long. We target prime locations on scenic streets that hold cultural and historic value to make our own coffee spaces unique.

In addition to network expansion and efforts to strength¬en the position of Givral Bakery, we will continue to introduce more high quality Givral pastries and products such as Givral coffee, Givral mineral water and Givral tea, which are all good for our customer's health

How does the Givral of today differ from that of the past?

Starting from the cafe on Dong Khoi street, we have developed a chain in order to bring the brand closer to more customers. May 2013 marked the brand's first step into Hanoi and today we have 14 coffee shops across Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

All the shops feature a blend of tradition and moder-nity, of French elegant space and the freshness of Vietnam's transformation. This is shown clearly in the architecture and interior decoration, making Givral Cafe an elegant and cozy place for any Givral lover.

Foreign coffee brands like Starbucks and Gloria Jeans have made competition in Vietnam stiffer. What do you think about the opportunities and challenges Vietnamese coffee brands now face?

Operating a cafe chain is still rather new for Vietnamese enterprises which have to compete against the likes of Star¬bucks, Gloria Jeans, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The foreign businesses have abundant financial resourc¬es and lots of experience in developing chains worldwide with standardised services and products. Vietnamese firms also have their own advantages however, as they have insight into Vietnamese coffee beans and customer taste. Givral knows how to act in Vietnam and as I said, Givral has historic and cultural value - something that other brands, whether local or international, find it hard to obtain. For us, this is the crucial factor.