Highlands Coffee

Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese coffee shop chain and producer and distributor of coffee products, established in Hanoi by Vietnamese American David Thai in 1998. The founding of the Highlands Coffee company marked the first time an Overseas Vietnamese was able to register a private company within Vietnam. As of 2009, the company operated 80 coffee shops in six cities and provinces across Vietnam. In 2011, Highlands Coffee purchased the pho chain Phở 24 from Lý Quí Trung for an estimated 20 million USD. The next year, Highlands sold 50% of its shares to the Philippines multinational chain Jollibee Worldwide for 25 million USD. In March 2012, under a partnership with Philippine Internet café company Digital Paradise, the first hybrid Highlands/Netopia internet café and coffee shop was opened in the Philippines.