The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' Flawed Report That Even Surprised Baek Jong-won

Spending 70 Million Won Annually on Service Fees
Errors in Statistics on Overseas Expansion of Dining Companies
Baek Jong-won's 'Bonga' Stores in China Halved
Notice Deleted After Requesting Investigation Background
'Tous Les Jours' Stores Differ by 62

In 2018, Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, shared his opinions on win-win strategies between franchisees and headquarters during the Fair Economy Strategy Meeting talk concert attended by President Moon Jae-in.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] It has been confirmed that the annual survey on the overseas expansion status of dining companies, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), has provided inaccurate figures for the second consecutive year. Despite costing tens of millions of won in project expenses, the report was full of errors, leading to criticism that public funds were wasted.

According to the 2019-2020 overseas expansion status survey report of dining companies released by aT on the 4th, the number of Chinese branches of BonGa, a Korean restaurant operated by Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, sharply decreased from 42 in 2019 to 22 in 2020. Consequently, the total number of BonGa’s overseas branches, including those in China, dropped from 65 to 46 within a year.

However, all these figures were inaccurate. Upon confirmation with The Born Korea, the number of branches in China was 23 in 2019, and the total number of overseas branches was 46. The numbers remained the same in 2020. Although there was no change in the number of branches over the two years, the report stated that the number of branches rapidly increased in 2019 and then drastically decreased in 2020.

The overseas branch numbers and statuses of SPC Group’s Paris Baguette and CJ Foodville’s Tous Les Jours recorded in the report also differed from reality. The 2019 report indicated that Paris Baguette had 17 branches in Uzbekistan. However, Paris Baguette had not even entered the Uzbekistan market. Singapore was mistakenly recorded as Uzbekistan.

There is a difference of as many as 62 branches in Tous Les Jours’ Chinese stores. According to aT’s data, the number of Chinese branches was listed as 165 in both 2019 and 2020, but after checking with CJ Foodville, the number decreased from 123 in 2019 to 103 in 2020. Regarding U.S. branches, the number increased by 5 last year, but the report showed a sharp decline from 50 in 2019 to 3 in 2020.

The Born Korea recently informed aT of the report’s errors and requested a response regarding the background of the survey data. aT quietly withdrew the reports covering 2018-2020 without any announcement. aT explained, "The report contents were incorrect," and added, "We plan to conduct a full re-survey and reissue the report within this month."

aT has been producing the ‘Overseas Expansion Status Survey Report of Dining Companies’ since 2013. The purpose of the report is to contribute to policy formulation to encourage exports by dining companies. The service cost amounts to about 70 million won. However, with the overseas status of dining companies?the foundation of the report?being full of errors, it is questionable whether meaningful policies that can help dining companies can be established.

A distribution industry official pointed out, "The numbers, which could be verified by simply making a phone call to the companies listed in the report, have been inaccurately recorded for several years," and criticized, "The biggest problem is the government’s complacent attitude of relying solely on contractors without proper verification."