SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Lotte Hotel & Resorts said Monday it will acquire the land beneath The New York Palace Hotel, securing full ownership of one of its most prominent overseas assets and eliminating long-term lease risks tied to the site. The South Korean hotel group purchased the Midtown Manhattan property’s building in 2015, [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Starbucks Korea has introduced self-order kiosks for the first time, marking a cautious shift in the global coffee chain’s long-held principle of prioritizing human interaction. The company said Thursday that two kiosks were installed this week at its Myeong-dong branch in central Seoul, one of the city’s busiest shopping [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean civic groups have accused two leading food delivery platforms of unfair and misleading practices tied to their popular “one-person meal” promotions, filing complaints with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). On Thursday, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun), and the Korea Consumer Federation [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Kyochon Chicken, one of South Korea’s largest fried chicken chains, has begun allowing franchise owners to set their own menu prices on delivery apps, joining a move pioneered earlier this year by rival bhc. The shift, described as a “self-determined pricing system,” reflects mounting tensions between franchise headquarters and [...]
SEOUL, July 21 (Korea Bizwire) — As small restaurant owners continue to struggle with rising operational costs and a sluggish economy, South Korea’s National Assembly is considering introducing a cap on delivery app fees — a move that could significantly reshape the country’s booming food delivery sector. At the center of the debate is the [...]
SEOUL, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Korean restaurants that adopt smart technologies such as delivery apps, kiosks, and table-order systems significantly outperform those that do not, according to a new study by the Korea Foodservice Industry Research Institute. The survey found that restaurant owners using smart tools reported an average monthly revenue of ₩30.86 million and [...]
SEOUL, June 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Kyochon Chicken, South Korea’s third-largest fried chicken franchise, will withdraw from delivery app Coupang Eats starting next month as part of an exclusive partnership with market leader Baedal Minjok (Baemin). The move marks the industry’s first known case of a delivery platform offering preferential terms in exchange for app [...]
SEOUL, June 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Emart24, a South Korean convenience store chain, said Wednesday it has opened its 100th outlet in Malaysia and plans to launch 30 additional stores there by December under its expansion strategy. The company entered the Malaysian market in June 2021 with a single store, operating under a master franchise [...]
SEOUL, June 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s hotel industry is increasingly turning to management contracts as a cost-effective strategy to boost profitability and accelerate global expansion without the burden of large capital expenditures. Major chains such as Lotte Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Shilla are shifting away from traditional asset-heavy models toward “asset-light” approaches, securing [...]
SEOUL, June 19 (Korea Bizwire) — On a weekday afternoon in Seoul, a single-person household places a modest ₩9,000 food order through Baemin. It’s a small indulgence—but soon, it will come with even smaller strings attached. In a move that could reshape the economics of Korea’s food delivery market, Woowa Brothers Corp., the operator behind [...]