This used to house a coffee/tea shop in Sky Garden found right by the steps leading to Sky Garden 1 along Nguyen Van Linh St.
I’ve been wondering what would be a good shop to replace the old one. Actually a lot of shops along this strip have opened only to close after 6 months. The Vietnamese market is pretty volatile these days and is hard on local businesses. So it was no wonder that the local shop here closed. And guess what was on the side of this shop?
Looks like this shop will become Pizza Hut. Project completion date on the 15th of July. Lots of pizza shops here already in Phu My Hung. There’s Pizza99, Pizza Inn, Domino’s Pizza and some Italian places serving pizza like The Red Tomato and Al Fresco.
I love pizza and all but actually, this place doesn’t need another Pizza Hut.
Sigh.
I feel bad for local business.
Hello Saigon! 
Actually, I have my own thoughts about why a lot of new shops don’t survive in PMH or anywhere else … those are the one where the owners have not trained their staff properly. Just walk into a new place, and you will find out the following traits more often than not:
The staff:
– are not “alert” – you have to practically do a rain dance to get their attention
– are too “moody”/lackadaisical
– (opposite to previous point) are are too “pushy”
– treat hygiene flippantly. (I have seen staff wearing gloves to prepare food, and then still gloved, grab the handle of the fridge, take out more food, and continue to work on it)
The owners:
– don’t understand that it is much more costly to find new customers rather than keep existing ones
– don’t understand the mechanics of pricing for their goods, and the price “elasticity” of the goods. (for instance, how a slight drop in price could increase demand disproportionately, and hence, improve TOTAL margins)
– don’t visit the shop often enough to see for themselves what’s happening on the ground.
And, this next one is in general: – special treatment to “foreigners”, with the misguided perception that all foreigners are walking ATMs!
-Steve
I have to agree with you Steve.
I don’t like seeing staff sleeping on the job. It turns me off as a customer. So when I see such a scene when I enter the shop, I step out quickly.
And like you, I don’t buy from concessionaires not handling food correctly.
Some owners on the other hand just put up shops without thinking if it’ll be profitable. Having lots of money for capital doesn’t translate to a good profit margin. I have a friend who likes to put up businesses. One time he decided to put up a spa/massage shop only to realize after all the construction/interior decoration has been done, that he couldn’t find a the right staff.
He re-constructed the whole place again and turned it into an office. Waste of money. Waste of time.
Speaking of pizzas, Pinocchio Restaurant’s Quatro Formagi is something worth trying. =) Yum!!!
I can make a pizza myself, so I’m not really excited knowing that another pizza place will be opening nearby.=( I also agree with both of you. As much as possible, I try not to eat out a lot because my tummy hasn’t adjusted well to the way food is being handled in restaurants here.=(
Thanks for the tip on Pinocchio Restaurant. Love Quatro Formaggi pizza. Will try their recipe. 🙂
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