Delivering Food Court Lokal, Grand Opening of Daegu Dalseo-gu 2 Center

Loekal grand opened its 2nd center in Dalseo-gu, Daegu at the end of last year. Starting with the 3rd center in the first quarter of this year, it plans to introduce up to 10 centers in various areas of Daegu and expand into Busan Metropolitan City.

Loekal, founded by Yoo Jung-beom, the founder of Mesh Korea Co., Ltd.'s Burung, is changing the paradigm of the food delivery market through a platform called 'Delivering Food Court.'

Delivering Food Court is a new secondary commerce business that attracts popular restaurants nationwide to centers like food courts in high-end department stores or large shopping malls and directly provides delivery services. In other words, by hosting verified popular restaurant brands that are hard to find in the existing delivery market, it increases accessibility to consumers and resolves issues difficult to solve in the delivery market such as high delivery fees and long delivery times through its own delivery system.

Experts from various fields, including CEO Yoo Jung-beom, who has led growth in the delivery market with 'Burung,' CBO Nam Hyun, and CRO Lee Jun-hyung, have joined forces, attracting attention from the investment industry. From the early stages of the business, they secured seed investments totaling 3 billion KRW from prominent domestic and international angel investors and institutions, and since the official launch on October 25 last year, they have achieved explosive sales and are experiencing rapid growth.

Following the grand opening of the 1st center, new brand entries are progressing smoothly thanks to strong sales growth. Recently, a brand developed directly by Chef Lee Woo-hoon, former head chef of Michelin Guide Seongsu-dong’s 'Milbon' and Michelin two-star 'Jungsikdang,' has also been confirmed to join.

A Loekal representative said, “In the early stages of opening, we recorded 200% weekly sales growth, and even now, we continue to grow by 50% weekly. This result was achieved based on the know-how of a tightly-knit team centered around CEO Yoo Jung-beom and data-driven evidence derived from big data.”

Loekal also differentiates itself from existing platforms by creating a virtuous cycle effect on the local economy. In operating the centers, they use local market ingredients and utilize regional distribution infrastructure to contribute to revitalizing the local economy. In addition to boosting the local economy, each center plays a role in creating at least 200 direct and indirect jobs.

Nam Hyun, CBO and head of business at LOEKAL Co., Ltd., said, “Thanks to the effect of revitalizing the economy and jobs in regions facing population decline and stagnation risks, interest from local governments and citizens is increasing. We plan to add seven centers in commercial areas near Dong-gu, Nam-gu, and Buk-gu in Daegu within this year, and we expect this to greatly help revive the Daegu regional economy.”