Foreign-Owned Small Businesses Feel Pressure
By John Redmond
Contributing writer
With all the hassle one has to go through to start up a small business, the last hurdle to be expected would be consistent harassment from local competitors. This appears to be not confined to a few isolated incidents but very common among certain types of business establishments, usually associated with entertainment.
The entertainment industry covers a very broad range of business establishments, but the most prominent ones owned by foreigners are bars, promotion companies and music services.
Promotion companies generally have good relations with local businesses due to mutual interest. If a promoter organizes a tour by a prominent artist, band or DJ, the number one priority is to secure a venue for the performers to stage their act.
With all the promotional material involved this tends to enlist the aid of sponsorships through local and international companies resulting in healthy business relationships, with prospects of future collaborations.
Bars, on the other hand, tend to have a little bit of a tough time getting off the ground, due mainly through other businesses fears of what clientele are to be expected.
Foreigners owning bars in Korea are very thin on the ground. The very first fully owned foreign bar, Watts On Tap in Sincheon, owned by Sean Watts, found the going very tough. ``At first it seemed they didn't believe that I owned the business, that I had a silent partner,'' he told The Korea Times.
He also mentioned that his suppliers were charging him much higher rates. After much consultation with then owner of 3 Alley Pub in Itaewon, Gunther Kampf, he bit the bullet and forged ahead.
Although the first fully foreign owned bar in Korea, Watts On Tap was by no means the first bar to have foreign partners and managers.
Rocky Mountain Tavern, the Wolfhound Irish Pub and Phillies in Haebangchon have all been around for a number of years and are seeing trade soar.
Haebangchon has seen a boom in foreign owned businesses, however noise seems to be the problem here.
From time to time, bars along the main street host regular live bands. Although noise levels are kept to a minimum, there is a constant police presence resulting in unnecessary tensions between local traders and bar/restaurant owners.
Admittedly people are within their right to be concerned over the prospect of drunken revelers storming the neighborhood, however this is not the case.
Mostly, the police are responding to complaints of unruly behavior and excessive noise, none of which, according to sources, are true.
Another area of concern is a local recording studio. Again run by a foreigner.
Here excessive noise levels would seem to be the obvious bone of contention, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Tired of having the authorities shut down a session because of complaints, they purchased a decibel level meter.
With a maximum allowance of 60 decibels allowed to justify an offence, the owner has monitored the outside ambient noise at a little under 45 decibels.
``Seems that the two sides need to find a way to resolve this conflict as the last thing any community needs is to drive business away,'' said a local trader on condition of anonymity.