Highlands Coffee

David Thai, founder of Highlands Coffee, was raised in Seattle (US)—home of the first Starbucks coffee shop. Hence, he witnessed the rise of the Starbucks coffee chain from a small company in his hometown to a multinational corporation. He later cited this as the inspiration behind the founding of Highlands Coffee, which first began operation in Hanoi in 1998. The company's initial registration marked the first time an Overseas Vietnamese person was able to register a private company of any kind in Vietnam. Two years later, in 2000, the company was registered as a joint stock company, again a first for an Overseas Vietnamese.

At the time of its foundation, Highlands limited itself to producing packaged coffee, to be sold through supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and cafés. It was four years later, in 2002, that the first Highlands Coffee coffee shop was established, across from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City. By 2009, the company operated 80 coffee shops in six cities and provinces across Vietnam: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Vũng Tàu and Đồng Nai.

By May 2010, the company offered 5 blended roast and ground and whole bean coffees (Heritage Blend, Traditional Blend, Gourmet Blend, Moka Blend, Culi Supreme), and 4 espressos in ground and whole bean (Full City Roast, Arabica Supreme, a water-process DeCaf espresso produced at their in-house water process decaffeination facility, and Cinnamon Roast espresso). The espresso line also included ESE-compatible 45mm espresso pods packaged in Malaysia. In December 2009 the company introduced a Ready-To-Drink (RTD) "Iced Coffee" in an 8-ounce can, in two versions, one labeled "with Milk" and the other labeled "Black". By May 2010 the company stated that the RTD product had been distributed to more than 17 Asian countries and the USA.

In 2011, Highlands Coffee purchased the pho chain Phở 24 from Lý Quí Trung for an estimated US$20 million. The next year, Highlands sold 50% of its shares to Jollibee Worldwide for US$25 million.

In March 2012, under a partnership with Philippine Internet café company Digital Paradise, the first hybrid Highlands/Netopia internet café and coffee shop was opened in the Philippines.

In December 2022, it was reported that Jollibee was seeking to sell a 10–15% stake in Highlands to an undisclosed investor.

Collaboration with Jollibee Foods

Jollibee owns several of the markets of the fast-food chains in the Philippines. On November 22, 2019, it made its joint venture with the Vietnamese brand Highlands Coffee public.

Jollibee had signed an agreement to make their joint venture firm 'Superfoods Group' to list at the Vietnam Stock Exchange. Superfoods is the owner of Highlands Coffee and other brands, such as Pho 24. In addition to being the fastest-growing joint-ventures of Jollibee, Superfoods has $55 million worth of annual sales. Moreover, with its revenues going 36% for its first nine months of operation, Highlands Coffee is currently basking in the growth rate of 78% from last year.

As per the agreement between Jollibee and Highlands Coffee, Jollibee will be the owner of 60% of the joint venture 'Superfoods', while Highlands Coffee will have the remaining 40%.