These pressures are forcing many restaurants to adjust their operating strategies. Some increase menu prices to offset rising costs, while others prioritize higher-margin items such as drinks and snacks to protect profitability. At the same time, more merchants are attempting to build direct-to-customer channels to reduce dependence on paid in-app advertising and regain some control over customer relationships.

Meanwhile, the competitive battlefield is shifting from a pure price war toward service quality and delivery speed. A Q1 2025 survey across Vietnam’s major cities indicates that only 26% of users choose apps primarily based on low prices. Instead, nearly half of customers (47%) prioritize fast delivery, and 41% focus on driver professionalism and order accuracy. This suggests that being the cheapest is no longer sufficient to win urban users, as reliability and speed increasingly shape perceived value.

In response, platforms are reshaping operations to meet higher service expectations. For example, Xanh SM Ngon differentiates itself by promising not to merge orders, aiming to keep meals hot and minimize delivery errors through a one-rider-one-order approach. Similarly, GrabFood is leveraging AI to forecast demand and testing new delivery models to reduce average delivery times to around 20 minutes, particularly during peak morning and evening periods.

Main players

By mid-2025, Vietnam’s food delivery market was dominated by three main names: ShopeeFood, GrabFood, and BeFood. With the two leaders (ShopeeFood and GrabFood) controlling over 90% of the market, the sector is now highly concentrated. Additionally, Xanh SM Ngon officially launched its food delivery service in Ho Chi Minh City on July 23, 2025, featuring a no-order-batching policy, a key differentiating feature designed to deliver an optimal customer experience.

Food delivery apps in Vietnam

Source: B&Company’s compilation

Implications

Vietnam’s food delivery market continues to present growth potential, but the nature of opportunity is changing. As the market becomes more concentrated around a smaller number of scaled platforms, competition is increasingly shaped by ecosystem depth (merchant supply, logistics capacity, user retention, and service consistency). For new entrants and supporting businesses, this does not automatically translate into easier entry; instead, it suggests that success is more likely when offerings complement existing platforms or address specific bottlenecks in the value chain rather than attempting to replicate full-scale marketplace models.

Within this context, several opportunity areas remain plausible. Merchant enablement—such as better tools for menu management, demand forecasting, and customer relationship management—can help restaurants operate more efficiently under rising platform-related costs. Packaging and food quality preservation (e.g., temperature retention and spill prevention) can also become more important as consumers place greater weight on delivery reliability. In parallel, logistics innovation (routing optimization, batching rules, and demand prediction) may create room for service providers that improve speed and accuracy without relying solely on heavier subsidies.

At the same time, the market is entering a more financially constrained phase. Promotion remains a major driver of orders, and platforms face trade-offs between defending volume and improving unit economics. Restaurants, meanwhile, continue to absorb a stack of platform-related costs—commissions, taxes, and the need for paid in-app advertising to secure visibility—often compounded by participation in discount campaigns. This dynamic can lead to higher-order volumes but weaker profitability for merchants, which may affect long-term willingness to rely heavily on platform channels and can increase churn risk on the supply side.

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[1] https://thoibaonganhang.vn/mua-sam-va-dat-do-an-online-bung-no-thoi-quen-tieu-dung-so-nam-2025-173233.html

[2] https://dtinews.dantri.com.vn/vietnam-today/vietnams-food-delivery-market-booms-20250710142707966.htm