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paulette449 | 1 year ago

> A few years ago, my girlfriend and I started a small coffee shop in Hanoi as a fun side project

Did it end up being the fun side project you expected?

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dehrmann|1 year ago

The standard insight is there's a difference between liking coffee, liking hanging out in a coffee shop, and running a coffee shop. Running a coffee shop is 98% HR, accounting, and customer service, and 2% coffee.

MKoberger|1 year ago

Youre right. The interesting things we learned came from visiting dozens of local producers, farmers, and villages where coffee has it roots around Vietnam. Have you had a chance to visit Vietnam and sample the egg coffee?

glimshe|1 year ago

Not very different from running a game company!

dyauspitr|1 year ago

Having done something similar in India I can say it definitely was fun. What makes it fun is there are next to no regulations so you can plop down in a place one day and just sell food.

9dev|1 year ago

Hah, try that in Germany. You shouldn’t even be giving food a sideways glance without your permits at hand. And don’t you dare to even consider selling beer alongside your snacks.

MKoberger|1 year ago

Haha, so…

My girlfriend manages several Airbnbs around Hanoi, and many of these buildings have ground floors designed for small businesses—something that’s very common in Vietnam. In 2019, we decided to turn the ground floors of her rental locations into coffee shops and finished setting them up just in time for December that year!

Of course, as luck would have it, COVID-19 wasn’t exactly great for either Airbnb rentals or coffee shops. Since then, we’ve both shifted focus to other projects, but we’re definitely planning to give it another shot in the future when the timing feels right!