'Ppurinkle' Exceeds 20,000 Won... bhc Chicken to Raise Prices by an Average of 12.4% Starting from the 29th (Comprehensive)

bhc Adjusts Prices After 2 Years
"Inevitable to Improve Franchisee Profits"
BBQ and Kyochon Raised Prices Since Last Year

Chicken franchise bhc is adjusting prices for the first time in two years to improve the deteriorating profitability of its franchise stores.

bhc announced on the 27th that starting from the 29th, it will raise the recommended retail prices of 85 products, including chicken menu items, by 500 to 3,000 KRW and apply the changes simultaneously across all stores nationwide. This price increase is bhc's first since December 2021.

With this price adjustment, the current bhc chicken prices, which range from 17,000 to 18,000 KRW, will increase to 20,000 to 21,000 KRW, an average rise of 12.4%. The representative menu item, Bburinkle, will go from 18,000 KRW to 21,000 KRW; Fried Chicken and Gold King will increase from 17,000 KRW to 20,000 KRW; and Basakcle will be sold at 18,000 KRW, up 2,000 KRW. Machoking, Yangnyeom Chicken, and others will increase by 3,000 KRW to 21,000 KRW each, while partial meat menu items will be sold at prices raised by 1,000 to 3,000 KRW depending on the item.

bhc explained that the price increase was made in response to ongoing demands from franchisees for improved profitability. In fact, representatives of the franchisee council have continuously requested price increases for substantial profit improvement during several win-win meetings held this year.

As franchise store profits have steadily worsened, bhc headquarters has absorbed 35.2 billion KRW of price increases for about 80 raw materials from suppliers and contributed 10 billion KRW in win-win support funds to reduce the burden on franchisees, but according to bhc, these efforts have reached their limit.

A bhc chicken official said, "Although both the headquarters and the council have shared some pain with mutual trust to stabilize prices, we have deeply considered and made this difficult decision due to the persistent and strong calls from franchisees for price increases caused by rising fixed costs such as order and delivery fees, labor costs, and rent, which have severely deteriorated their profitability."

Along with this consumer price adjustment, the supply prices of raw materials to franchise stores will also be partially adjusted to reflect current conditions. The average increase is about 8.8% depending on the item, and bhc chicken headquarters has set support funds for the first two months to strengthen marketing support for franchisees' order brokerage fees.

Among the three major chicken franchises, BBQ and Kyochon Chicken began raising prices last year. BBQ raised prices by 2,000 KRW across all items in May last year, and Kyochon Chicken increased prices by up to 3,000 KRW per item in April this year. As a result, BBQ's popular item 'Golden Olive Chicken' is priced at 20,000 KRW, and Kyochon Chicken's 'Honey Original' is priced at 19,000 KRW.

As the three major companies raised prices, other chicken franchises also followed suit. Nene Chicken raised prices of major menus by 1,000 to 2,000 KRW in May and increased some product prices by an additional 1,000 to 2,000 KRW in August. Cheogajip Yangnyeom Chicken and Puradak Chicken also raised prices of major chicken menus by 1,000 KRW in May and November, respectively.