According to the food industry on the 27th, Canadian coffee shop Tim Holton will launch a franchise business in Korea next month by posting an announcement on recruiting franchisees. It means that it will break away from direct management store-centered operation two years after entering Korea. "Considering that it is in the early stages of the project, we will recruit shop owners around key commercial districts in the Seoul metropolitan area with a large floating population," an industry official said. "After that, we will expand our foothold to metropolitan cities and provinces in response to market demand."
Tim Holton began as a small coffee shop in Canada in 1964 and has now grown into the second largest coffee franchise in the world. It has more than 6000 stores in 19 countries around the world. Starbucks is the top company with 40,576 stores, followed by Costa (British coffee brand) with more than 4,000 stores, followed by Tim Holton. Team Holton opened a flagship store in Gangnam-gu, Seoul in 2023 and entered Korea to lead an "open run." Within a month of entering the market, it set a record of selling about 300,000 donuts and 100,000 cups of coffee.
Team Holton started its franchise business to overcome the limitations of its direct store-based business. The strategy is to secure a firm position in Korea by increasing the number of stores at a low cost with the power of franchisees. Currently, Team Holton operates 16 stores in Korea, including the Magok One Grove store that opened on the same day.
Another reason for running a franchise business is that the strength of "direct cooking in-store when ordering" works in Korea. The company operates a large in-store kitchen (Tims Kitchen), which is a rare franchise coffee brand, and cooks food directly. Every day, I bake doughnuts and cook sandwiches in Tim's Kitchen. This contrasts with competitors such as Starbucks receiving completely cooked food.
[Reporter Lee Hyoseok]
