SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Food and snack companies are reaching out to consumers through face-to-face encounters at cafes and restaurants, and reaping multiple benefits of upgrading their company image, testing new products and increasing sales, industry officials said Thursday. Binggrae in March gave its Banana-flavored Milk, a product that has survived for 40 [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 16 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of convenience stores in South Korea has surpassed 33,000 as of the end of October this year, marking a rapid growth since the opening of the first store 27 years ago, industry statistics showed Wednesday. The number indicates a significant increase from 28,994 counted at the end [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Rising international coffee prices this year could hit South Korea soon, industry officials said Tuesday, although major franchises and coffee companies say they have no immediate plans for a markup. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) in its October report noted the significant rise in coffee prices, with Robusta, used [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – A Korean-designed holiday cup is now in use at 23,000 Starbucks coffeehouses in 75 countries across the world. According to Starbucks Korea, a design by 24-year-old Kwon Eun-joo was selected as one of the 13 cups for this year’s Red Cup Contest on Instagram, hosted by the global coffee [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – “We’ll make a McJob a GoodJob,” read the slogan held by a picketer wearing a McDonald’s paper bag. Taking place Wednesday in front of the McDonald’s headquarters building in Seoul was the inauguration ceremony of a new McDonald’s labor union of current and former part-timers. The union has existed [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Golden Blue, a homegrown whisky brand with low alcohol content and a cheap price tag, has beaten Diageo’s Windsor in the key market in Seoul for the first time in 16 years, industry officials said Friday. “Golden Blue Diamond”, a 17-year-old blended whisky, took up 41.4 percent of market [...]
SEJONG, Nov. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s dessert market expanded 13.9 percent in 2014 from a year earlier on rising demand for sweets and non-alcoholic drinks, government data showed Wednesday. The combined value of the local confectionery and non-alcoholic beverages markets stood at 8.9 trillion won (US$7.9 billion) in 2014, up 13.9 percent from [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Planners made by Starbucks have again become a trend item this year among young women who have formed an online market to buy and sell the diaries at marked up prices, the coffee franchise said Tuesday. Starbucks is giving out free planners this year for 2017 in four colors [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – If there’s one thing about Korean culture that foreigners may find interesting, it could be the country’s nightlife. Koreans not only work late hours, but are seemingly most active at nights, and there are few city neighborhoods without 24-hour franchise cafés or restaurants on standby for late-night customers. A [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The new anti-graft law has given rise to yet another consumption trend in Korean society, this time with “Yangju” or foreign hard liquor such as whiskey, brandy, or rum. These types of beverages, which in the past would usually have been consumed at entertainment establishments, are now becoming increasingly [...]