When it comes to the US beverage market, few sectors are as competitive as the coffee industry.
According to analysis firm Mordor Intelligence, the US coffee market size is estimated to reach $29.1 billion in 2025. The market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 3.69 per cent during the forecast period 2025 to 2030 to reach $34.87 billion.
Thanks to the rise of coffee culture, led by evolving consumer lifestyles and changing consumption patterns, modern consumers are increasingly integrating coffee into their daily routines.
As reported by the National Coffee Association, 66 per cent of Americans now drink coffee daily, surpassing the consumption of tap water in 2021.
One brand that has managed to stand out amongst its competitors is Nguyen Coffee Supply.
Coming from a background in journalism, Sahra Nguyen, the founder and chief executive officer of Nguyen Coffee Supply, didn’t initially set out to become an entrepreneur.
However, after observing a unique white space in the American coffee retail scene, Nguyen set out to create a brand that would highlight the full potential of Vietnamese coffee to American consumers.
From conception to coffee-centered creation
Prior to launching Nguyen Coffee Supply in 2018, Nguyen’s career path was primarily centered in the world of journalism, working for publications including The Huffington Post, Vice and NBC News.
In 2016, Nguyen spent a large portion of the year freelancing and working in coffee shops and began to notice that Vietnamese-style iced coffee was becoming very trendy.
It reminded her of how flavours like matcha, Indian-style chai and boba – the chewy tapioca balls used in Taiwanese bubble tea – had become integrated into mainstream American beverage culture.
However, after using her journalistic skills to dig into the industry, Nguyen realised that the coffee shops she was sitting in didn’t serve beverages made with authentic Vietnamese coffee beans.
She also discovered that Vietnam is the second largest coffee producer in the world, a fact that floored her, despite having been introduced to her family’s food culture as a first-generation Vietnamese American.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, from 2023 to 2024, the top four coffee-producing countries were Brazil (39 per cent), Vietnam (16 per cent), Colombia (8 per cent) and Ethiopia (5 per cent).
Nguyen recalled, “I started to think, ‘If Vietnam is such a major producer of coffee in the world, why are they not included in American coffee culture?’”
That same year, with a passion fueled by an interest in representing her familial culture, Nguyen went to Vietnam to conduct her first coffee bean-sourcing trip and began building a network of connections with coffee farmers and producers she continues to work with to this day.
More than anything, Nguyen explained that her inspiration to launch Nguyen Coffee Supply was more of a “calling” than any desire to focus on monetary goals.
“If I wanted to find the best path for me to make money, I would not have chosen coffee,” the founder explained.
“I saw that there was a glaring injustice happening in the coffee industry, particularly where it was rendering Vietnamese-sourced coffee invisible and exploiting Robusta coffee-growing communities by pushing the Robusta coffee (the most common coffee bean in Vietnam) segment into the cheap conventional coffee category. Whereas, Arabica has really had an opportunity to thrive in specialty markets,” Nguyen expounded.
“This larger mission to right this wrong and bring justice to the industry stems from my work as a journalist and even before that with my work as a community activist. I’ve always felt that I wanted to help tell stories about underrepresented and marginalised communities to be seen and understood through media.
“If I want to change this perception, I have to work with farmers at the ground level and help them improve their product as a livelihood, and then produce a different product for the market,” Nguyen emphasised. “So that’s what really led me down this path.”
From DTC to Target and beyond
By 2018, Nguyen launched Nguyen Coffee Supply as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand and by 2022 the brand began to develop its first ready-to-drink (RTD) line of products.
“We really wanted to make Vietnamese coffee more accessible to as many people as possible,” the founder explained.
At that point, Nguyen Coffee Supply had already garnered attention from publications like The New York Times, Business Insider, Food & Wine and organic word-of-mouth, so it wasn’t too long after the brand released its RTD line that it ended up teaming up with Whole Foods to work on a nationwide rollout.
Today, the brand is carried in over 2700 doors via retailers including Target, Whole Foods, Albertsons and Sprouts Farmers Market.
Nguyen reported that the brand experienced 100 per cent year-over-year growth in 2024.
In addition to its various flavours of coffee beans, several of which are named after locations in Vietnam like Saigon and Hanoi, the brand has expanded its merchandise assortment to include American and Vietnamese-style brewing tools and accessories and an aesthetic variety of apparel and goodies.
Nguyen disclosed to Inside Retail that the company will continue expanding its list of retail partners and that it is planning to introduce new stock-keeping units in the year ahead.
Experiencing culture through flavour
Similar to founders like Jing Gao of the sauce brand Fly by Jing, Nguyen has noticed American consumers’ openness to products and flavours that would have previously been left in the “ethnic” section of a grocery store. It is something she mentions in pitch sessions with potential retial partners.
“We talk about the trend of Vietnamese coffee within the coffee category, but beyond the coffee category, there’s a larger macro trend of Asian flavours in America,” Nguyen stated.
“Then beyond Asian flavours, there’s a larger macro trend of Asian pop culture in America through things like K-pop or anime and within Hollywood storytelling. Beyond that, there is a larger macro trend of modern brands rooted in heritage that can speak to the global audience… As people engage with pop culture, they want to experience culture through flavour.”
Ultimately, Nguyen sees the growth of brands like her own coffee company and Fly By Jing as reflecting the changing consumer landscape.
“We’re becoming more open to diversity, experiences and labours. I think everyone’s success supports our success,” Nguyen concluded.
The post How Nguyen Coffee Supply caught the eye of US retailers Target and Whole Foods appeared first on Inside Retail Asia.
