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Companies

Eggslut frenzy pushing SPC's former vice president to return to management

People wait in a line in front of Eggslut restaurant in COEX mall, Seoul, last Friday, upon its very first store launch in the country. / Courtesy of SPC GroupBy Kim Jae-heunA former SPC Group Vice President Hur Hee-soo, who was dismissed from the company after being accused of smuggling and smoking liquid cannabis-derived products, may return to management in two years on the back of impressive sales of the company's recently launched Eggslut brand.The growing in popularity California-based egg sandwich operator commenced business last week with the grand opening of its first Korean branch in the affluent Gangnam district. On the first day of its opening, more than 300 people lined up in front of the store at the COEX mall, southern Seoul. Founded by chef Alvin Cailan back in 2011, Eggslut is known for its egg sandwiches made with a brioche bun, coddled egg and sriracha mayo sauce.The chain now operates stores in four different countries including the United Kingdom and Japan. Given its sandwich's fluffy texture and rich flavor with scrambled eggs and melted cheese, expectations are

Jul 12, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Eggslut frenzy pushing SPC's former vice president to return to management
Companies

Starbucks Korea to seek breakthrough with new concept stores

Starbucks Reserved store at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Starbucks KoreaBy Kim Jae-heunStarbucks Korea is preparing to open a bakery at its coffee shop in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, this month, as part of its strategy to increase profits from food sales. Currently, the American coffeehouse chain creates 70 percent of its revenue here through beverage sales, 20 percent from snacks and 10 percent via merchandise.Despite its position as a leader in the coffee franchise business, Starbucks Korea believes it has reached the limit as to how many beverages it can sell here and decided to strengthen its food category. Starbucks has already opened coffee shops with bakeries in the United States, Japan and China but this will be the first to open in Korea. The new store in Yangpyeong will be the first to have a "bake-in" installation in Korea, providing customers with a unique Starbucks experience along with its Reserve and Teavana stores.“We are opening a bakery in the Yangpeyong store with an aim to offer various services to custome

Jul 9, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Starbucks Korea to seek breakthrough with new concept stores
Companies

DH-Woowa deal under second FTC review

Korea Franchisee Union Secretary General Kim Jong-min, center, speaks during a press conference held at the head office of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThere never seems to be a peaceful day for the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) since it began reviewing the $4 billion deal of Delivery Hero's acquisition of Woowa Brothers. Labor civic groups including the Korea Franchisee Union (KFU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a press conference urging the government to cancel the acquisition.“Delivery Hero and Woowa Brothers already own a combined 99 percent of the market share with their three delivery service players, which is already an unfair business practice,” the civic groups said. “We warn that the two firms will monopolize the market once they merge together and therefore we submitted a written opinion to the KFTC urging a thorough review and cancellation of their deal.” This is not the first time the unions have come out against mergers and acquisitions (M&amp

Jul 8, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
DH-Woowa deal under second FTC review
Politics

Samyang Biopharm establishes Samyang CRS Award

Company to present inaugural award at Controlled Release Society 2021 Annual Meeting to honor mid-career scientistBy Kim Jae-heunKim Sung-wanSamyang Biopharm USA, a global biotech subsidiary of Samyang Pharmaceuticals Corporation, announced Tuesday that the company had established the Samyang CRS Award in Honor of Sung Wan Kim. The announcement was made at the 2020 annual meeting of the Controlled Release Society and the inaugural award will be presented next year.The award will be presented annually to mid-career scientists in biomedical research who demonstrate strengths in the areas of drug discovery and make significant scientific contributions to their area of research. “Samyang is thrilled to sponsor an award named for such a distinguished member of the scientific and academic community as Kim Sung-wan,” said Lee Hyun-jung, president and CEO of Samyang Biopharm USA. “Each year this prestigious award will recognize a scientist whose quality of research is both strong and promising, and also embodies the scientific discipline and rigor of Kim Sung-wan. Samyang w

Jul 7, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Samyang Biopharm establishes Samyang CRS Award
Companies

Naver strengthens online business with big name brands

Naver CEO Han Seong-sook speaks during a press conference. / Korea times fileBy Kim Jae-heunThe country's largest portal site Naver is opening direct management stores of popular international brands like Gucci and Disney in an effort to sharpen its competitiveness against its main rival Coupang. Coupang has an advantage over Naver with its fast delivery service, which brings many people to buy fresh food and daily necessities there. Naver, on the other hand, operates shopping platforms like Brand Store, where only big brands sell their products directly to customers.The strategy is aimed at focusing on luxury goods, home appliances and cosmetics that people take time to think about and purchase, so it is not the speed of the delivery but the credibility of the firm that matters. Naver has already opened 75 online stores of local power brands such as LG Household & Health Care and CJ CheilJedang, and plans to establish 125 more by end of this year. However, it does not seem easy for the portal site to host other luxury brands' online stores except Gucci because none of the others

Jul 6, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Naver strengthens online business with big name brands
Entertainment

Big Hit's 'risky' collaboration with Mnet may affect IPO valuation

Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk, center, poses with pop star Rain, left, and rapper Ziko, during the press conference for Mnet's new survival reality show “I-Land” at CJ ENM's headquarters in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, on June 25. / Courtesy of CJ ENMBy Kim Jae-heunBig Hit Entertainment is the next big deal in the initial public offering (IPO) scene here, expected to make its debut in either September or October. It is currently undergoing screening in preparation for going public on the KOSPI and it is always better to stay out of any trouble during this period. However, its collaboration project with CJ ENM's cable music channel Mnet ― debuting the next global K-pop band ― has just begun to air a week before the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) took action against the media giant over a previous ballot-rigging scandal. Of course, the KCSC's attention to Mnet's statement of opinion over its illegality will not affect the music cable channel's new survival reality show “I-Land” or the entertainment agency's IPO plan. Even if the broadcastin

Jul 5, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Big Hit's 'risky' collaboration with Mnet may affect IPO valuation
Companies

International luxury brands flourish while local labels perish

People shop at Christian Dior's store at Lotte Department Store in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, in this 2018 file photo. / Courtesy of Lotte ShoppingBy Kim Jae-heunThe prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has shown the clear contrast between international luxury firms and domestic fashion companies. Despite price hikes of luxury brands, people formed queues in front of their boutiques while local labels are offering deep discounts but not many are interested.Both Louis Vuitton and Chanel raised prices for their products here in May. It was the second time for Louis Vuitton which had already changed prices for some items in March, while Chanel had increased its prices by up to 26 percent. But complaints were rarely heard. In fact, people rushed to the boutiques to buy luxury goods before the markups. The same scene was portrayed in front of Dior's stores in Seoul on July 1, when the news reported the French fashion house will increase prices by 12 percent to 15 percent. There were three to four times more customers than usual in front of Christian Dior boutiques in Seoul, similar to when people

Jul 3, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
International luxury brands flourish while local labels perish
Politics

CJ ENM in clash with local broadcasters over content fee

CJ ENM's headquarters in Mapo-gu, Seoul / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunCJ ENM, the country's largest entertainment company, is in a dispute with local broadcasters over a price increase of its TV programs by 15 percent to 30 percent.The content provider sent out an official notice stating it will stop transmitting TV programs if system operators like IPTV, cable TV and satellite broadcasting don't accept its markup by July 17. Broadcasting firms are at a loss over the “one-sided notification,” especially cable TV operator D'LIVE that has been told to pay a 20-percent increased fee for shows provided by OCN, tvN and Tooniverse.“We were notified that if no agreement is reached by July 17, CJ ENM will suspend the transmission of its shows and retrieve the digital content receiver as well,” a D'LIVE official said. D'LIVE is No.3 player in the cable TV market that operates a broadcasting system in Seoul only. If CJ ENM stops transmitting TV shows, D'LIVE's 2.01 million users will be unable to watch any program. What D'LIVE is paying to CJ ENM constitutes 25 percent of its

Jul 3, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
CJ ENM in clash with local broadcasters over content fee
Companies

Lotte Shopping to target Coupang, SSG.com and Market Kurly

A worker sends fresh pork for Lotte's three-hour-delivery-service at Lotte Mart in Gwanggyo, Gyeonggi Province, on June 3. / Courtesy of Lotte MartBy Kim Jae-heunLotte Corporation's retailing affiliate Lotte Shopping is battling to survive against competition from the likes of Coupang, SSG.com and Market Kurly. It has recently decided to strengthen the competitiveness of its super market brand Lotte Mart by offering the freshest food and ingredients possible. Starting from July 1, Lotte Mart will sell 200 fresh eggs at each of 20 stores in the capital every day that have been laid that morning. If it proves to be popular, the supermarket will increase the amount in accordance with demand.Those that have not been purchased within 24 hours will be discarded. Normally, other eggs are put on the shelves for sale five to 10 days after they have been laid. The same system will apply for seafood to ensure the highest quality.――――――――――――――――-The supermarket brand said the premium fresh food service is only available at certain offline stores at the moment but they will be available for onli

Jul 2, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Lotte Shopping to target Coupang, SSG.com and Market Kurly
Tech & Science

K-pop suggests concept of 'future concert'

BTS online concert records 22 bil. won ticket salesBy Kim Jae-heunThe new coronavirus pandemic could have become a disaster for entertainment companies here until they took it as a chance to go online and start holding concerts on virtual platforms. For talent agencies like Big Hit Entertainment, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment, sales coming from concerts count a lot. When COVID-19 started to spread around the world, all three foresaw problems as they had to cancel all their K-pop groups' concerts abroad. BTS held 62 small and large concerts in and outside Korea last year that earned 198.6 billion won ($164.18 million) for Big Hit Entertainment, or one third of the company's annual sales of 587.9 billion won in 2019.This year, Big Hit Entertainment had planned to hold 39 concerts as part of BTS's world tour covering South Korea, the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Spain and Japan. However, most of them were either canceled or postponed indefinitely.To quickly make up for what could possibly be a huge economic loss, domestic entertainment companies found the alternative

Jul 2, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
K-pop suggests concept of 'future concert'
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