Đào Thế Vinh

Chairman & CEO of Golden Gate — Vietnam's largest restaurant group with 40+ brands and 500+ locations

Notable Quotes

“I need to sell products that customers like, not products that satisfy my personal preferences.”
Source: Nhà Đầu Tư

“A system can produce any product; an artisan produces only what they're skilled at.”
Source: CafeBiz

“Difficulty reveals opportunity. During hardship, one satisfied customer equals thousands in normal times.”
Source: Vietnam Business Insider

Advice

Systematize from day one

Don't rely on one talented chef or manager. Build standard processes so anyone can operate the business.

Sell what customers want, not what you like

Turning personal preferences into a business model without market research is extremely risky.

Multi-brand to spread risk

Don't put everything into one concept. Each brand targets a different segment and cuisine — if one trend fades, others compensate.

Key Highlights

✓From 1 hotpot shop (2008) → 500+ restaurants, 40+ brands across 45 provinces
✓2024 revenue: 6,630B VND (~$259M)
✓Temasek invested (2022), valuation ~$650 million USD
✓Mekong Capital invested $2.6M (2008), exited at 9x return (2014) — INSEAD case study

Biography

Đào Thế Vinh (b. 1972) studied Hydro-Meteorology at Saint Petersburg University, Russia. After 7 years of import-export trading in post-Soviet Russia, he returned to Vietnam in 2002 and co-founded the Cozy tea brand. In 2005, he and two friends founded Golden Gate. The inspiration came from a trip to Yunnan, China, where he discovered mushroom hotpot in Shangri-La. In 2008, he opened the first Ashima restaurant at 44 Phan Dinh Phung, Hanoi — just 4-5 tables, with antique furniture bought to be resold if the venture failed. Key insight: all 3 co-founders were engineers with zero culinary background — so they systematized everything from day one instead of relying on artisans. After 16 years: 500+ restaurants, 40+ brands, 19,000 employees, serving 18 million customers/year. In 2025, acquired The Coffee House for 270B VND.