Korean Tteokbokki Captivates Foreign Tastes... Dookki Plans to Open 200 Stores Within 3 Years

Started in Taiwan in 2016... 137 Stores in 8 Countries
Vietnam Has the Most Stores... Operating 78
North America and Europe Aim to Open 200 Stores Within 3 Years

The unlimited tteokbokki refill franchise 'Dookki' is receiving a flood of love calls from overseas. It is praised for captivating foreigners' taste buds as a cost-effective K-food by adding an unlimited refill concept to tteokbokki, which is loved by people of all ages. Since the transition of COVID-19 to an endemic last year, the pace of opening overseas stores has accelerated.

According to the domestic food service franchise industry on the 12th, Dookki opened 40 stores overseas last year.

Starting in Taiwan in 2016, Dookki has expanded to eight countries including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Australia, currently operating 137 overseas stores as of today.

The number of new overseas store openings was 8 in 2017, 5 in 2018, 40 in 2019, 30 in 2020, 7 in 2021, and 40 last year. Except for 2021, when COVID-19 was severe, the number has been increasing rapidly. This year, 5 more stores have opened.

The first store in Sydney, Australia, which opened on the 3rd, is the first Western store. Dookki plans to use Australia as a forward base for the Oceania and Asia-Pacific markets and expand its presence into Western markets. It plans to expand franchises to major Australian cities such as Canberra, Melbourne, Bruce Bain, Perth, and even New Zealand. Among the countries it has entered, Vietnam has the most stores (78), with 21 new stores opened last year.

A Dookki representative said, "We plan to expand beyond Southeast Asia to North America and Europe," adding, "We aim to open 200 overseas stores within 2 to 3 years."

Dookki is preferred by prospective entrepreneurs because its self-cooking method reduces labor costs and can be operated without specialized cooking skills. Especially in overseas markets, it has lowered entry barriers by increasing accessibility to tteokbokki through a localization strategy that offers local ingredients preferred by locals along with basic tteokbokki ingredients.