Highlands Coffee posts strongest quarterly earnings in 2 years on robust same-store sales

Highlands Coffee, Vietnam’s largest coffee chain, delivered its best quarterly performance in two years, with Q3 EBITDA exceeding PHP666 million ($11.27 million), parent company Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) said in its latest earnings report.

The figure, up 17.1% from a year earlier, is the highest since Q3/2023, when JFC began separately reporting the chain’s financials.

Highlands accounted for nearly 29% of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in JFC’s coffee and tea business and about 6.1% of the group’s total EBITDA.

The growth was driven by a 17.2% increase in same-store sales, covering outlets that have been in operation for at least 15 months.

For the first nine months of 2025, Highlands posted EBITDA of PHP1.91 billion ($32.36 million), up 9.5% year-on-year. JFC did not elaborate on the figures.

Highlands Coffee remains the dominant player in Vietnam’s fast-growing coffee market. As of end-September, it operated 928 stores across Vietnam and overseas through both company-owned and franchised models. During the first nine months of 2025, the chain opened 109 new outlets and closed 31.

Founded in 1999 in Hanoi as a packaged coffee brand, Highlands entered the coffee business in 2002 with its first shop in Ho Chi Minh City and has since expanded aggressively. JFC acquired the chain in 2012.

Despite the Philippine group’s ownership, founder and CEO David Thai said in an April interview that Highlands continues to function as a Vietnamese company, with JFC serving primarily as investor and strategic advisor. Daily operations and staffing remain under his direct oversight.

Vietnam’s food and beverage (F&B) industry generated VND406.1 trillion ($15.4 billion) in revenues in the first half of 2025, equivalent to 58.9% of 2024’s figure and up slightly from VND403.9 trillion ($15.3 billion) a year earlier, according to an October report by iPOS.vn.

As of June 30, Vietnam had 299,900 F&B outlets, down 7.1% from the end of 2024, the report said. Both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City saw double-digit declines of more than 11%, signaling a marked slowdown in the country’s two largest markets.