Is there fast food in Vietnam? If you have stumbled upon this blog because you are wondering about the fast food scene in Vietnam, I have good news for you! Vietnam has fast food, and it has it in abundance! So, if you are traveling to Vietnam and are worried about getting a burger/fried chicken fix you will be ok.
I thought Vietnam was communist?
Is Vietnam communist? Well they are certainly run by a communist party. Then again so are China/ China is KFC’s biggest global market. In short you can be “communist” and still have fast food. Even North Korea has burgers y’all.
To read about what a Socialist Country is click here .
To read about burgers in North Korea lick here .
Is there Fast Food in Vietnam and what are my choices?
You will find almost all major franchises in Vietnam, Burger King, KFC and the last to join the pack McDonalds. The biggest player though is Lotteria, but more on those kids later.
McDonalds can as of now only be found in a few stores in Saigon. To say they are not huge in Vietnam would be an understatement.
Things are worse still in Cambodia, one of the few countries without a McDonalds.
To read about McDonalds is coming to Cambodia click here
Who are the biggest fast food restaurant in Vietnam?
Lotteria by a long shot. If you have not heard of Lotteria they are a huge Japanese/Korean corporation. You will see them everywhere in Vietnam from trains stations, to well everywhere else.
The burgers are pretty good. I have less good things to say about their rice dishes. I do not agree with rice dishes at fast food joints.
Lotteria has about 200 branches
To read the whole Lotteria in Vietnam story click here .
KFC In Vietnam
KFC have 135 stores in Vietnam, and after Lotteria are the fast food of choice in Vietnam. Again KFC were quick to jump in the market, much like they did in China.
To read about KFC around the world click here .
McDonalds in Vietnam
A paltry 17 stores located in the south of the country. They entered the market late and people just prefer Lotteria.
To read about which countries have McDonalds click here .
Burger King in Vietnam
Burger King has a paltry 13 stores in Vietnam. Again they came to the market rather late. They also got into controversy in 2019 over claims of racism, which led to a boycott of their stores.
Said “racist” add involved chopsticks, something that would be repeated by D&G in China, to an even bigger backlash.
To read about the Burger King racism controversy click here
To read about which countries have Burger King click here .
Do you need fast food in Vietnam?
Does Vietnam have fast food? Yes it does. Do you need fast food in Vietnam? Largely you do not. Vietnam has 120 million people, BUT less than 500 fast food restaurants. Why is fast food in Vietnam not such a big thing?
Basically Vietnamese street food is the best in the world, at least in my opinion! And well, I am the Street Food Guy. Vietnamese street food is also by nature very fast. Therefore Americanized Fast Food is also expensive in comparison to the (fast) street foods of this great nation.
To read about what street food is click here .
To read about Vietnamese street food click here .
And that is the Vietnamese fast food scene. If you need a burger go to Lotteria. But in general it is hard to think too much about fast food in Vietnam when the rest of the culinary scene is so eclectic.
