4.2.1. History of establishment and development of Highlands Coffee brand
Highlands Coffee is an extremely familiar name for coffee or fast food enthusiasts in Vietnam. The founder of Highlands Coffee brand is Mr. David Thai, born in 1972 in the South of Vietnam. In 1978, he moved to Seattle.
Witnessing a series of business projects along with the growth of Starbucks coffee company fueled David's passion. In 1996, David Thai returned to Vietnam. He started his career with his self-opened Au Lac coffee shop near Hoan Kiem Lake. However, he later had to withdraw from the store due to lack of investment. With the revenue from Au Lac, David Thai started again with new projects. In 1999, Highlands Coffee was officially established, with the vision of becoming the most loved coffee and tea brand in Vietnam and proudly sharing it with the world. Viet Thai Group - Viet Thai International was established in 2002 by David Thai, and is also the owner of Highlands Coffee.
After Viet Thai Group was established, there were only two Highlands Coffee stores in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2012, David Thai sold a 50% stake to Jolibee from the Philippines. Up to now, Highlands Coffee is a big brand with 426 coffee and food shops spread across the provinces of Vietnam and has more than 39 stores in the Philippines.
The image of the Highland Coffee logo design was chosen inspired by the harmony and attachment of the mountains, the land and the flow. It is this sunny and windy place that has fostered delicious coffee beans, rich in the flavor of the nature and people of Vietnam. The logo uses two main colors, red and brown. Red is also the color of coffee beans when ripe on the tree, and brown is when the coffee has dried and ground. With the positive messages that the meaning of the logo brings, it shows both the Vietnamese cultura identity and the modernity of international integration.
Source: Highlands Coffee website
Figure 4-2. Highlands Coffee brand logo
38 Highlands Coffee chooses to follow the foreign giants by blending domestic and foreign style flavors. Highlands Coffee aims to attract and expand more different customer groups. Therefore, there is a clear price difference between the product lines. And customers Highlands Coffee has been serving are middle-class consumers, office workers and young people. Drinking coffee is also perceived by customers as belonging to a high class and they want to find a place with a reputable brand name, partly to show their class.
The pride of Vietnamese values is woven into millions of customers when enjoying familiar Vietnamese flavors, sharing "hund of rich stories" in a familiar space between a traditional and modern Viet Nam with decorative drawings showing cultural beauty, bringing a sense of closeness to everyday life but still very sophisticated and modern in open space. All make up the pieces in the success of Highlands Coffee today.
4.2.2. Products of Highlands Coffee brand
From pride in the source of ingredients raised on Vietnamese land, Highlands Coffee is proud to use 100% of coffee and tea purchased directly from the Highlands of Viet Nam. Drinks at Highlands Coffee are considered to have relatively competitive prices and very good quality in the market.
Highlands Coffee's products are extremely diverse including coffee, phindi, espresso, freeze, tea, bread, cakes and some other drinks. In addition, Highlands Coffee also provides roasted and ground coffee, 3in1 instant coffee and canned coffee for customers. However, drinks at Highlands Coffee are divided into three main groups: coffee, tea, and freeze. And in these three main groups, there will be one representative product for each group. Iced milk Phin represents coffee, golden lotus eea represents tea, green tea freeze represents freeze.
Because these three products account for the largest revenue of Highlands, becoming the three products that bring the success of Highlands Coffee up to this point. We will easily see these three products in every image, advertisement, poster of Highlands Coffee products.
Roasted ground coffee is slowly extracted drop by drop through a metal filter called “Phin”. Coffee drinks include phin coffee, phindi, and espresso coffee, in which Phin iced milk is the main product. Phin iced milk is an intersection product that both men and women love, while Phin black coffee is mainly for men, white coffee is mainly for women. Espresso coffee (making machine) picky users, used at the shop will be more delicious. Characteristics of customers Highlands Coffee buy to take away quite a lot, especially in the office areas.
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Source: Highlands website
Figure 4-3. Highlands coffee's coffee drinks
With the natural and delicious taste of Vietnamese tea with modern style at Highlands Coffee, it will help evoke your taste buds and enjoy a feeling of freshness. Tea drinks include golden lotus tea, peach jelly tea, lychee tea, red bean green tea, tropical tea, of which golden lotus tea is the main product.
Source: Highlands Coffee website
Figure 4-4. Highlands coffee's tea drinks
Looking for a fresh and stylish sensation to inspire. The selection of unique, natural-flavoured ice blended dishes at Highlands Coffee to awaken all your senses and keep you full of life. The blended ice dish includes Non-coffee freeze (green tea freeze, cookies & cream, chocolate freeze), Phin coffee freeze (Caramel Phin Freeze, Classic Phin Freeze), in which green tea freeze is the main product.
Phin Iced milk Phindi almond Espresso
Golden lotus tea Peach jelly tea Lychee tea
Red bean & green tea Tropica mango tea
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Source: Highlands Coffee website
Figure 4-5. Highlands Coffee's freeze drinks
Bread is one of the representative dishes of Vietnamese cuisine. Bread is not only famous in Viet Nam but has reached out to the world and is highly appreciated for its quality. And at any time (breakfast, lunch, dinner) with that convenience, Highlands Coffee can attract customers to eat bread at any time.
In addition, the popular choice in modern cafes is cakes, so Highlands Coffee also takes advantage of this to meet the dining needs of customers. Highland Coffee's products also have canned coffee or roasted coffee, making it accessible to customers from afar. Moreover, this brand also launches fashionable water bottles and cups that attract young people. At the same time, encourage customers to bring water cups to reduce waste into the environment.
Source: Highlands Coffee website
Figure 4-6. Other products of Highlands Coffee
Grilled pork bread Tiramisu cake
Phin inox Mosaic mug
Canned black coffee
Packaged traditional
coffee Green tea freeze Cookie & cream Chocolate freeze
Classis Phin freeze Caramel Phin freeze
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