Café chains go on flourishing in coffee-crazy Korea where the entire population drink more than one cup of coffee a day on average.

Starbucks Coffee Korea Co. last year celebrated its best-ever performance since the local subsidiary of global coffee giant Starbucks Corp began operation in 1997. Its operating profit for full 2018 jumped 24.9 percent on year to 142.9 billion ($125.7 million) while sales expanded 20.5 percent to 1.5 trillion won, according to its regulatory filing. It operates total 1,280 outlets across the country, as of March 31.

Ediya Coffee Co., one of Korea’s home-grown coffee shop chains with the largest number of outlets (approximately 2,500) in the country, generated 200.5 billion won in sales last year, up 8.9 percent on year. Its operating profit slipped 12.4 percent on year to 17.6 billion won but it was largely due to capex for factory ramp-up and expenses related to supporting franchisees’ operation.

A Twosome Place Co., café chain unit under retail giant CJ Group, recorded an operating profit of 29.2 billion won on sales of 274.3 billion won for 2018, its first year into business after it spun off from the group’s food service unit CJ Foodville Co. Its operating margin hovered at 10.6 percent.

Upscaling has helped business.

The café chains launch new menus every season to keep up with the latest trend in the market. Ediya Coffee is readying to add four new drink menus including upgrade version of its past steady-seller bubble teas amid the return of retro culture.

Blue Bottle Coffee, specialty coffee roaster, is readying to open its first outlet in Korea, its second location outside the U.S., with bets on high-end taste of Korean aficionados.

According to a government study, a Korean adult drank 377 cups on average as of 2016, which means every adult excepting caffeine-sensitive people would have drunk more than a cup a day. The market in 2016 was estimated at 6.4 trillion won.

By Lee Duk-joo and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]