K-Chicken Earned '130 Billion Won' Overseas... BBQ's Rapid Growth

BBQ 110 Billion·Kyochon 16.9 Billion·bhc 2 Billion
Rapid Growth of BBQ·bhc... Kyochon Stays Below 1%
Aggressive Store Expansion This Year... Overseas Sales Expected to Rise

Domestic chicken industry leaders (Kyochon, BBQ, bhc) venturing into new markets earned approximately 130 billion KRW overseas last year. Riding the wave of the K-content boom, their global branch expansions resulted in a 56% growth compared to the previous year. However, the fortunes of each company varied. Based on sales, BBQ achieved a rise of several tens of billions of KRW, and the early entrant bhc recorded nearly 200% growth, while Kyochon saw only a 1% increase.

Kkokko-daek K-Chicken Earned 130 Billion KRW Beyond Borders Last Year

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 18th, the top three domestic chicken companies?Genesis BBQ, Kyochon F&B, and bhc?recorded total overseas sales of 129.833 billion KRW last year. This represents about a 56% increase from 83.259 billion KRW the previous year. The chicken trio expanded their overseas presence, fueled by the global popularity of K-content and K-food. With the domestic market saturated and competition fierce, all focused on securing new growth engines.

In particular, BBQ experienced explosive growth. BBQ earned 110 billion KRW overseas last year, a 69% increase from 65 billion KRW the previous year. Since 2003, BBQ has been tapping into overseas markets, aggressively expanding its branches mainly through the Master Franchise (MF) model rather than direct management, thereby increasing royalty revenue. The MF model involves contracting with local companies to operate franchise businesses without direct overseas entry, supplying raw materials, and receiving royalties.

Currently, BBQ operates about 700 stores in 57 countries. Just last year, it opened around 200 new branches in North and Central America, including Panama and Costa Rica, as well as Malaysia. In the United States, BBQ runs stores in 27 states, including major cities in New York, New Jersey, and California.

Although bhc's overseas sales volume is smaller, it showed the steepest growth. Last year's sales were 2.022 billion KRW, a 193% increase from 691 million KRW the previous year. bhc entered Hong Kong in 2018 but hesitated to expand overseas for several years. However, after recording the top domestic sales for the first time at the end of 2022, it began actively expanding overseas with openings in Malaysia and Hong Kong. In February last year, bhc opened its first North American store, 'LA Farmers Market,' in Los Angeles, California. In the second half of the year, it rapidly expanded by opening its 4th to 6th stores in Malaysia.

A bhc representative said, "Last year, we entered two new countries, the U.S. and Singapore, and increased global stores, leading to significant sales growth. Especially in Southeast Asia, where interest in K-chicken is high among overseas consumers, we are very popular."

Kyochon Chicken, No.1 in Overseas Sales, Grows Only by 1%... "Focusing on Strengthening Fundamentals"

Kyochon Chicken Branch No. 4 at Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tainan, Taiwan

However, Kyochon Chicken's growth remains stagnant. Last year's sales were 17.812 billion KRW, only about a 1% increase from 17.568 billion KRW the previous year. Kyochon currently operates 71 locations across seven countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan. Although it opened three stores in Taiwan in the second half of last year, there was no significant change in sales. Kyochon is gradually diversifying its overseas strategy from direct management to the MF model. In Taiwan, it entered using the MF method.

Once the industry leader, Kyochon Chicken has fallen to third place in sales for two consecutive years. It now faces the challenge of simultaneously boosting domestic and overseas sales. A Kyochon representative said, "Since the stores in Taiwan opened in the second half, there were limitations in reflecting overseas sales. If the goal was sales growth, we could aggressively increase stores by recruiting MFs, but like domestically, Kyochon’s overseas expansion strategy focuses on strengthening fundamentals first."

As the top three chicken companies are committed to pioneering new markets, steep overseas sales growth is expected this year as well. Recently, BBQ opened the 'BBQ Chinatown Branch' in Chinatown, San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. bhc opened its second store in Thailand in April following the first store in March and plans to open its first store in Taiwan within this year. Last month, bhc signed an MF agreement with Hutong Group. Kyochon Chicken recently opened its fourth store in Mitsukoshi, the top-grossing department store in Tainan, Taiwan. A Kyochon representative stated, "We plan to focus on solidifying our position in existing countries and raising global brand awareness and preference."