In Ho Chi Minh City, cafés use time limits, bare restrooms to manage customers

One café on Thai Van Lung Street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City recently went viral on social media after customers shared photos of posted rules limiting seating and time spent in the shop. 

Drinks start at VND58,000 (US$2.2), and customers who order food without a beverage are charged an additional VND20,000 ($0.77), according to patrons.

The café's compact interior has tightly spaced tables, some marked with bilingual notices in Vietnamese and English stating they are reserved for groups of three or four. 

Solo customers are directed to seats at the counter or asked to order takeout. 

The shop does not provide power outlets, limits laptop use to 20–30 minutes and caps total seating time at 90 minutes.

A female staff member said the rules were set by the owner to ensure table turnover in a small space and had been in place since before she joined the café.

Thu, a regular customer, said she was initially surprised but has come to see the logic. 

"If you just come to drink coffee and eat cake, the rules don't really affect you," she said. 

"A drink left for more than 90 minutes won't taste good anyway." 

She added that the café's restroom is clean and rarely crowded, which she views as a benefit of the policy.

Costs, space and customer turnover

Elsewhere in the city, some lower-priced cafés take a less explicit approach. 

At a budget coffee shop on Pham Van Dong Boulevard, there are no posted notices or verbal reminders, but the restroom lacks a toilet seat cover, bidet spray, and toilet paper -- a setup that discourages prolonged use.

The shop's owner said the arrangement was deliberate. 

Selling coffee for VND18,000–25,000 ($0.7–1) per cup, his business caters mainly to students and manual workers. 

"If the restroom were fully equipped and comfortable, customers could buy one cheap drink and sit from morning to afternoon," he said, citing rent, utilities, and staffing costs.

He said the shop previously offered a fully equipped restroom but faced frequent blockages, sometimes requiring two repairs in a single day, with costs equaling a day's beverage revenue. 

Some customers, he added, would sit inside the restroom using their phones for extended periods.

Not all customers agree with such practices. 

Duong Truc Thi, 23, said access to a usable restroom is a basic need and should not be used as a way to control how long customers stay, regardless of drink prices. 

"Whether you pay VND25,000 or VND70,000 ($2.7), using the restroom is still a human need," she said. 

"If a café has special rules, it should make them clear so customers can decide for themselves."