After eyeing international expansion for years, Vietnamese coffee giant, Trung Nguyen seems set to take its first step in that direction, starting with the United Arab Emirates.

The first two shops will open in Dubai in the third quarter of 2015 under a franchise agreement with Dubai-based Global Hotels Management (GHM). GHM will invest $2.7 million in shops next year and the company is negotiating with airlines, hotels and supermarkets with to distribute the coffee with eyes toward expansion to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Though other international coffee brands already dominate the UAE market and have cultivated excellent brand loyalty, it is growing at 8% annually and is expected to jump from $111.2 million this year to $151 million in 2018.

Nguyen Nguyen, general manager of Trung Nguyen, says that beyond distribution, GHM hopes to open 100 shops in the region within the next 5 years.

“Dubai and the Middle East is familiar with the western coffee but if we develop a new style from Asia, if we can make people aware of that, the market can be developed,” he said at the International Coffee and Tea Festival in Dubai last week. “Vietnamese coffee is strong and suitable for the tastes here.”

For Trung Nguyen’s CEO, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, this likely the first step to what he sees as the company’s first step towards global coffee domination. “The fine taste of Vietnamese coffee and the right strategies will allow us to conquer the world,” he told Global Coffee Report back in September.

[The National // Image via mohammad khedmati]