In recent years, a popular food and beer establishment on Hoang Sa Road in HCMC has typically served an average of up to 800 customers per day, but now it only accommodates around 100 to 200 .
“I rarely see my restaurant fully occupied these days,” said Duong Binh, the 40-year-old restaurant owner. “My income has dropped by half compared to before.”
Since Vietnam tightened its laws on driving under the influence, Binh has seen the number of his customers gradually decline. More recently, the increase in police patrols to arrest drunk drivers has caused even more difficulty for his business.
“I called some customers and they told me that stricter enforcement of driving under the influence (DUI) laws had discouraged them from coming.”
In District 4, Quoc Anh, 30, saw the number of customers drop by half at his restaurants that served all night.
“Customers say there are now many police officers on the streets so they are afraid of getting caught.”
HCMC launched Vietnam’s largest-ever anti-alcohol campaign last month by sending new DUI squads with many more officers than usual to streets known for their high concentrations of bars, clubs and restaurants.
In the first nine months of 2023, HCMC Police recorded 93,507 cases of drunk driving violations. This included 421 cars and 93,086 motorcycles. In total, 93,500 people have had their licenses revoked for such incidents.
Vietnam has tightened its DUI laws over the years. Starting in 2020, the country imposed new drunk driving regulations that fine any driver regardless of the amount of alcohol found in their system. Previously, drivers were only fined if the amount of alcohol exceeded a certain level.
The highest penalties are a fine of 40 million VND ($1,640) and a 24-month license suspension. A person may face criminal charges if the violation results in accidents.
Data from the HCMC police show that the number of road accidents this year decreased by 26 percent compared to last year, while the number of deaths decreased by 50 percent.
Colonel Nguyen Quang Nhat of Vietnam’s Traffic Police Department said strict drunk driving laws have started to change drivers’ habits: they now have to find new ways to travel instead of drive themselves to avoid fines.
But restaurateurs have learned that many customers have started to no longer drink in their establishments, which threatens the sustainability of their business.
Cong Vinh, who operates four food and beer restaurants in HCMC, said many competitors have closed their doors even though they have been in the business for 10 years.
Vinh himself plans to close some establishments to reduce losses.
“My income dropped from VND700 million to VND300 million per month. In some restaurants, I lose VND70 million per month.”
Binh has laid off half of his staff due to financial difficulties to keep his restaurant running, but he still makes losses every month.
He tries new promotion strategies to persuade customers to come back.
“I now allow customers to park their vehicles at the restaurant overnight. I even pay carpool rates for some customers so they don’t drive home.”
Vinh, however, plans to make beer a less important part of his restaurants’ services and instead plans to focus on a variety of high-quality foods to attract new groups of customers.
“I hope the situation will improve by the end of the year,” he said.
