bhc Chicken, Controversy Over Abusive Language Toward Closed Store Owner... CEO Im Geum-ok "Bows Head in Apology"

"Immediate Action Required Under Zero Tolerance Policy"

Apology statement from Lim Geum-ok, CEO of bhc. Photo by bhc

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] On the 22nd, Lim Geum-ok, CEO of the chicken franchise bhc headquarters, apologized amid controversy after a bhc headquarters employee verbally abused a closed franchise owner while demanding unpaid fees.

In an apology statement that day, CEO Lim said, "We have confirmed that inappropriate language and behavior that should not have occurred took place during the conversation between the closed store owner and the regional supervisor (manager)." He added, "The key issue in this incident is that the supervisor, emotionally agitated, used abusive language."

He continued, "On behalf of all bhc executives and employees, I bow my head in apology for the unfortunate incident involving a store owner who was once like family to us," and apologized, saying, "It was my fault for insufficient management of supervisors who should minimize the store owner's dissatisfaction and act as a bridge between customers and store owners."

He emphasized, "We will take immediate action on this matter with a zero-tolerance policy and plan to implement extensive measures at the headquarters level to fundamentally resolve the problem," adding, "We will devote ourselves to managing and educating headquarters supervisors to prevent recurrence of such incidents."

Earlier, according to conversation records received by Rep. Jeon Jae-su of the Democratic Party from the bhc Store Owners Association, franchise owner A, who had closed the store a month ago, contacted headquarters employee B to obtain documents necessary for VAT payment.

During this process, B said, "I will only cooperate if you settle the unpaid amount of 44,000 won related to the delivery app promotion." When A requested related proof documents, B responded with abusive language, saying, "Just make the payment."

In particular, through KakaoTalk messages, B verbally abused A with phrases such as "Stop making people angry. Seriously, you will get killed," and "I swear you will die because of me."