While Singaporean food and beverage businesses cashed in on the historical US-NK summit by releasing products from the Trump-Kim burger to “Rocket Man” taco, South Korean F&B companies were more cautious about joining the celebratory mood.“It is surely a historical moment that we all wanted to see, but I think it is still early to launch related products celebrating the historical moment of the two leaders,” an industry insider told The Korea Herald.   Trump-Kim burger (Royal Plaza on Scott Face

As they wage a marketing war for consumers’ attention and appetites, food companies are increasingly teaming up with fashion brands, leading to a boom in “food merchandise.”Brands see the collaborations as an entertaining experience for customers that increases opportunities to create a synergistic marketing effects to increase sales.Quirky, humorous and sometimes odd marketing has often been a successful public relations strategy for food companies. The fashion foray is the latest such tactic,

Food group SPC’s bakery chain Paris Baguette has been expanding quickly outside of Korea, running over 330 stores abroad since its first overseas store in Shanghai, China, opened in September 2004.  Paris Baguette store in Manhattan, New York (SPC)In the US, SPC set up a local corporation of Paris Baguette in 2002, and opened the first Paris Baguette in Los Angeles in 2005. There are 60 Paris Baguette stores in major cities in the US including California and New York. The company aims to operate

With inter-Korean ties appearing to move forward, South Korean food and beverage companies are cautiously pinning hopes on expanding their businesses to the other side of the peninsula, eyeing the some 25 million potential consumers in the North. Retail giant Lotte Corp. said Tuesday that it has formed a task force to work on the group’s business expansion to North Korea. Its food and beverage affiliates Lotte Food, Lotte Chilsung and Lotte Confectionery will lead the business under a CEO-level

SPC Group, the operator of South Korea's largest bakery franchise, Paris Baguette, said Wednesday that it has dropped it suit against the government over an employment dispute following a recent deal with the country's two umbrella union organizations.The franchise's operator filed the case against the Ministry of Employment and Labor in October seeking to nullify the ministry's order to directly hire more than 5,300 outsourced bakers and cafe workers, to whom the firm had been giving direct wor

(Photo courtesy of SPC)The sixth Shake Shack store in Korea has opened at Incheon Airport’s new terminal. It is the largest among five other branches of the burger chain at airports worldwide. Shake Shack stores in Korea are operated exclusively by SPC Group. The new branch is located on the first basement level of Incheon Airport’s Terminal 2, slated to open Thursday. It will offer a variety of new items including Egg N’ Cheese, Shack Blended Coffee and a dessert called Fly Me to the Shack.Offi

Buoyed by vast popularity at home, major Korean bakery chains are wooing consumers overseas with premium offerings, hoping to capture a share in emerging markets for high-quality bakeries.Paris Baguette, a leading bakery chain here operated by food group SPC, and Tous Les Jours, operated by CJ Foodville, have been operating branches overseas focusing on the Chinese and American markets since 2004. Paris Baguette currently operates 311 overseas stores, with 231 in China, and Tous Les Jours has 38

For an increasing number of Koreans, rice and noodles are no longer the foundation of their meals. A growing appetite for sandwiches and baked goods like cakes, pastries and doughnuts have made bakeries ubiquitous across Korea.Wheat consumption has continued to grow in a country where traditionally a meal without rice was no meal at all. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the average South Korean ate 33.2 kilograms of wheat flour in 2016.(123RF)Meanwhile, rice cons

Every morning, the smell of freshly baked pastries fills the air of the underground corridors connecting Line 2 and Line 4 of Sadang Station in Seoul. The pleasant smell is enough to make even the busiest Seoulite stop for a moment for a quick bite to-go.Such is the case for 30-year-old Lee Hye-in, who was waiting in line to make a purchase at the bakery inside Sadang Station on Wednesday. Various breads are on display at a bakery inside Sadang Station (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)“I stop by

　2016년 7월 한국에 상륙해 폭염 속에서도 버거를 사기 위해 하루 종일 줄이 늘어서는 진풍경을 연출했던 ‘쉑쉑버거’(쉐이크쉑)이 인천공항 제 2터미널(T2)에 들어오는 신매장에는 무인주문 시스템인 ‘키오스크(Kiosk)’ 설치를 고려하고 있다고 밝혔다. 　　쉐이크쉑은 2016년 개점 초 최소 한 시간 이상 줄을 서야 주문할 수 있었다. 폭염 속에서 기다리는 소비자들에게 닥칠 혹시 모를 건강상 위험을 대비해 SPC 측에서 부채와 생수는 물론, 간호사까지 준비시킬 정도였다. 　  인천공항 제2터미널(T2)에 입점 예정인 인기 햄버거 매장 쉐이크 쉑(Shake Shack) 6호점 (사진=인천공항공사 제공)하지만 이번 달 18일 인천공항 제 2터미널에 개장하는 쉑쉑버거 국내 6호점에서는 길게 선 줄을 대신할 수 있는 주문과 결제가 한번에 가능한 키오스크가 선보일 가능성이 높다. 　　쉐이크쉑을 국내에 들여온 SPC그룹 관계자는 10일 “인천공항 제 2터미널의 전반적인 무인 키오스크 컨셉에

South Korea‘s largest retailers are looking to incorporate digital technology into their shopping experiences, inject storytelling elements into their content and expand overseas in 2018.In his New Year’s address, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin stressed the importance of adopting a “digital transformation” in processes across the entire group. In the retail sector, Lotte has already begun adopting artificial intelligence to its shopping experiences in partnership with IBM. Last month, Lotte

More than 4,100 bakers at Paris Baguette, South Korea's largest bakery franchise, have opted not to be directly hired by the franchise operator SPC Group in a snub to the government.The Ministry of Employment and Labor has said SPC Group should directly hire bakers, saying that the food and beverage giant violated the country's labor laws in connection with the hiring conditions of more than 5,300 bakers and cafe workers at its franchise stores.The bakery chain has been accused of giving direct

Bakery chain Paris Baguette is speeding up its efforts to hold explanatory sessions for bakers working at its franchises to convince them to agree to employment with a new third-party corporation.The third-party corporation, which will be jointly created by Paris Baguette, franchise owners and outsourcing companies, is designed to allow Paris Baguette to continue employing outsourced bakers at its stores in line with current labor laws.Paris Baguette franchises have employed nearly 5,400 bakers

Paris Baguette, South Korea's leading bakery franchise, has filed for an injunction against the labor ministry over its order to directly hire the bakers at its stores, company officials said Friday.  People walk past Paris Baguette`s Manhattan outlet in New York. (SPC Group)In September, the Ministry of Labor and Employment ordered Paris Baguette to recruit 5,378 employees at 3,396 franchise stores who currently work for the franchise's subcontractors, saying it violated the rule that bans a fr

South Korean food manufacturer and distributor SPC Group will add three more Paris Baguette branches at Singapore Changi Airport, the company said Wednesday.The three bakery-cafe branches will be located at newly built Terminal No.4, which has been designed to cover 16 million passenger movements a year. The terminal was opened to the public Tuesday.  (SPC Group)Singapore Changi Airport annually handles some 52 million passengers as of last year, listed as the world’s sixth-busiest airport in te