[News Article] Marking 35th birthday, McDonald's Korea unveils new menu, outlet expansion
Marking 35th
birthday, McDonald's Korea unveils new menu, outlet expansionBy Lee Yoon-seo, The
Korea Herald - McDonald's Korea on Wednesday unveiled its vision to operate a
total of 500 McDonald's outlets in the country by 2030 and release an exclusive
menu in the Korean market, in celebration of its 35th anniversary. "During the
first half of this year, the (firm's) sales rose about 10 percent on-year to
some 623 billion won ($479 million), logging its largest (semi-annual) sales
since the brand's entry into Korea," McDonald's Korea CEO Kim Ki-won said
during a press conference held in Seoul. Back in 1988,
McDonald's Korea had 3,000 daily visitors for all domestic outlets and posted
1.7 billion won in annual sales. Now it has grown
into a fast-food chain with 400,000 daily visitors and annual sales of 1
trillion won, Kim said. "We attribute
our stellar growth (in the Korean market) to long-term investments such as
actively opening new outlets, strengthening menus, such as by introducing the
McCrispy burger, and launching various platforms that benefit customers,"
she added. After 35 years of
its operations, Kim said the company will be aiming to expand the number of its
Korean branches to 500 by 2030, up 25 percent from from current some 400. It
will open eight large-scale new drive-thru restaurants across the country by the
end of this year. The new drive-thru
stores, dubbed McDrive, are planned to be equipped with an expanded version of
McDonald's Hi-Pass payment system, which allows a consumer to pay for ordered
goods using a transceiver placed in the car without having to exit the vehicle. Marking its 35th
birthday, Lee Hae-yeon, the chief marketing officer of McDonald's Korea, added
that McDonald's Korea will be releasing a Korea-exclusive menu as a part of its
Taste of Korea campaign. The campaign aims to contribute to the local economy by
developing burger recipes that use locally sourced ingredients. For the production
of the new menu item, the Jindo Green Onion Cream Croquette Burger, McDonald's
Korea said it will be purchasing 50 tons of green onions from Jindo, South
Jeolla Province, to support economically local farmers. "We will
continue to conduct businesses with environmental, social and governance
initiatives to aim for sustainable growth from a long-term perspective, in
order to become a trustworthy, friend-like brand," Kim said. To further promote
its ESG efforts, Kim said McDonald's Korea is set on converting all its
packaging materials into recyclable and reusable materials by 2025. She added the
company will be upping efforts to convert use of all eggs to pasture-raised eggs,
in a bid to promote animal welfare. Regarding the heated
competition for global brands' foray into the Korean market amid its burgeoning
demand for burgers, Kim said McDonald's Korea "welcomes the global burger
brands' inroads into the domestic market," remarking that the recent boom
in global burger brands advancing into the Korean market reflects the increased
demand for burgers. On June 26, popular
US burger brand Five Guys started its first Korean operations in Gangnam,
southern Seoul. British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay recently opened his second
burger restaurant in South Korea in the southern city of Busan. "We will aim to
launch products that best convey consumers' needs (amid the competition),"
Kim said. According to
Euromonitor, the size of the domestic hamburger market, which was valued at 1.9
trillion won in 2013, grew rapidly to about 4 trillion won last year. According
to the research firm, Korea's burger market is expected to grow to some 5
trillion won this year. Source: https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230705000606
2023.07.07
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