"Affordable and Convenient to Use"... Compose Coffee Surpasses Mega Coffee to Rank No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction

Korea Consumer Agency Releases Survey Results on Low-Cost Coffee Brands
Paik's Coffee Ranks Fourth, Receiving the Lowest Scores in Most Categories
Top Dissatisfaction with Low-Cost Coffee: "Coffee Taste"

As competition among low-cost coffee franchises intensifies, Compose Coffee has surpassed The Venti, Mega MGC Coffee, and Paik's Coffee to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Stores of domestic low-cost coffee brands located in a building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. From left to right: Mega Coffee, Compose Coffee, Paik's Coffee. Photo by Hyunghan Hur

On January 21, the Korea Consumer Agency announced the results of a survey conducted among 1,600 consumers who had used low-cost coffee shop brands at least three times per month over the past three months, evaluating service satisfaction across four companies.

The overall satisfaction score averaged 3.87 points out of 5. Compose Coffee ranked first with a score of 3.97. According to an analysis of data from the Korea Consumer Agency, Compose Coffee received the highest scores among the four brands in the areas of customer service, operational expertise, customer empathy, menu quality, order/payment/convenience of use, and cancellation/changes/refunds.

Following Compose Coffee, the overall satisfaction scores were Mega MGC Coffee (3.93), The Venti (3.86), and Paik's Coffee (3.73). Paik's Coffee received the lowest scores among the four brands in categories such as store environment, service reliability, customer service, operational expertise, customer empathy, menu quality, price, information provision, order/payment/convenience of use, store facilities/hygiene/cleanliness, and cancellation/changes/refunds.

Meanwhile, the most important factor consumers considered when choosing a low-cost coffee shop brand was the appropriateness of the menu and price (37.2%). This was followed by 'coffee taste' (19.2%) and 'store accessibility' (18.1%).

An analysis of the reasons for choosing each brand showed that The Venti was favored for its coffee taste and differentiated menu, Mega MGC Coffee for its price and menu variety, Paik's Coffee for its non-coffee menu items (such as drinks and desserts), and Compose Coffee for its store accessibility, with relatively more consumers citing these factors for each brand.

Additionally, 6.2% (99 people) of consumers reported experiencing dissatisfaction or damage while using low-cost coffee shop brands. Among these, 'dissatisfaction with coffee taste' was the most common at 41.4% (41 people), followed by 'menu items being sold out' (36.4%), and 'order failures due to kiosk or app errors' (26.3%). The most frequent type of dissatisfaction or damage was 'dissatisfaction with coffee taste' at 41.4%, followed by 'menu items being sold out' (36.4%), and 'order failures due to kiosk or app errors' (26.3%).

Based on the survey results, the Korea Consumer Agency plans to request that the relevant businesses improve their services by standardizing coffee quality across stores and simplifying and minimizing errors in kiosk and app ordering processes.

The Korea Consumer Agency stated, "We will continue to produce and provide comparative information on services in various fields to support consumers in making rational choices and to encourage businesses to improve their service quality."