The secret to the popularity of No Brand Burger is reasonable prices combined with good taste and quality. (image: Shinsegae Food Inc.)
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — “No Brand” burgers from Shinsegae Food Inc., the food manufacturing arm of South Korean retail giant Shinsegae, are dominating the hamburger market.
Analysts say that Shinsegae’s cost-effectiveness strategy for its new No Brand Burger restaurants is behind such growth.
The company managed to lower the price by more than 1,000 won (US$0.84) compared to its competitors while maintaining similar quality.
Driving on without a stop, Shinsegae Food is planning to expand its stores and even pursue a franchise business.
As of the end of last month, sales at No Brand Burger exceeded 350,000 units.
In other words, four stores have sold more than 100,000 burgers a month on average, including the first No Brand Burger store in Seoul, which opened in August. Each store has between 1,000 and 1,500 daily sales.
In the retail industry, if daily sales of hamburgers exceed 1,000 units per store, it is recognized as “Class A performance.”
In particular, the Hongdae branch has become a popular place with customers waiting in line for more than an hour before eating, as No Brand hamburger has proven to be a draw among younger customers.
The secret to the popularity of No Brand Burger is reasonable prices combined with good taste and quality.
The company focused extensively on research and development of the menu. Some 20 chefs from the affiliated food research institute developed the company’s burger offerings over a period of three years.
In addition, the company made the most of its know-how in distributing and manufacturing food products to the fullest extent possible to lower the price.
The price of the No Brand burger is between 1,900-5,300 won for a burger and 3900-6,900 won for a ‘set’ that includes fried potatoes and a beverage.
Its flagship burger, NBB Signature, which costs 3,500 won (US$2.93) for the burger alone and 5,300 won for a set, is also cheaper than the 6,200 won cheeseburger set at Lotteria, the nation’s number one hamburger franchise.
What is making such prices possible is so-called ‘joint orders’.
Considering that it is not easy to secure a competitive edge in price by placing individual orders for each ingredient, Shinsegae Food placed orders for of all the ingredients at once with the food ingredients managers of each business unit and lowered the prices of the most basic ingredients.
Moreover, it also used its own ingredient factory to secure hamburger patties and pre-prepared vegetables, cleaned and chopped, reducing unnecessary distribution costs.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
