Moon Chang-gi's Ediya Innovation: "The First Year of Success in Establishing the Production, Logistics, and Distribution Triangular Formation"

Operation of Dream Factory and Dream Logistics Center in April... "The Best Quality Coffee"
'National Coffee Brand' Legend... Accelerating Win-Win Management with Franchise Stores

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] This year is particularly special for Moon Chang-gi, chairman of Ediya Coffee. It is the first year that the core competencies, built up over 16 years of focus since acquiring Ediya Coffee, are bearing fruit. Starting this year, Ediya Coffee will handle the entire process of production, logistics, and distribution in-house. Chairman Moon described this as "a year of innovation for a new leap forward" and called for even stronger internal capability enhancement.

According to Ediya Coffee on the 14th, the state-of-the-art production plant "Dream Factory," being constructed in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, with a total floor area of approximately 12,892m² (about 4,000 pyeong), is scheduled for completion in April after an investment of 40 billion KRW. Once the Dream Factory is fully operational, Ediya Coffee will begin in-house production of high-quality coffee beans, sticks, and beverage powders. Chairman Moon expects production capabilities to be significantly enhanced through the Dream Factory. The plan is to produce upgraded top-quality coffee beans, supply them stably to franchise stores, and continuously develop new products that meet consumer needs.

Next is the strengthening of logistics capabilities. Ediya Coffee is currently building a logistics center equipped with advanced facilities such as automation equipment and a mobile cargo tracking system on a site of about 18,181m² (about 5,500 pyeong) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Named the "Dream Logistics Center," it is scheduled for completion in April. Through the Dream Logistics Center, deliveries will increase from three times a week to six times a week, allowing franchise owners to place orders anytime according to store conditions and handle a variety of raw materials, including fresh foods.

Founded in 2001, Ediya Coffee had little presence in the coffee specialty store industry until Chairman Moon took over in 2004. After acquiring Ediya Coffee, which had only 80 stores including franchises and directly operated stores nationwide, he succeeded in surpassing 3,000 stores by the end of November last year. This is the first in the domestic coffee specialty store industry. Among domestic food service franchises, only the bakery specialty store Paris Baguette has more than 3,000 franchise stores, and globally, coffee brands with over 3,000 stores in a single country are rare. The principle of "opening stores where business will succeed" brought the brand closer to consumers. Combined with the brand concept emphasizing "practicality" and "rationality" and accessibility, Ediya Coffee grew into a "national coffee specialty store" in the fiercely competitive domestic market, often called the coffee republic.

Chairman Moon now believes internal capability enhancement is necessary and is determined to create busy days strengthening collaboration systems. He considers coffee itself the ultimate competitive edge. Although the domestic coffee market has entered a mature phase, he believes it will not shrink. In fact, coffee consumption among young people has mostly shifted to brewed coffee, and consumption of brewed coffee increases with age. The decline in the mix coffee (instant coffee) market since 2011 supports this trend.

Chairman Moon expects the Dream Factory, equipped with world-class roasters and facilities, to strengthen the product competitiveness of coffee. He has personally traveled to various coffee-producing regions worldwide, including Africa, South America, and Central America, to discover green beans for the best coffee taste. The Ediya Coffee Research Institute, responsible for the company's R&D functions, has developed optimized systems for coffee extraction and differentiated blending ratios and roasting techniques through numerous tests. Accordingly, he insists that the accumulated R&D achievements must meet mass production-capable facilities to create the best synergy.

Chairman Moon emphasized, "Since last year, the R&D center has been preparing coffee with upgraded aroma and flavor through numerous studies and tests, and plans to improve the quality of coffee beans in line with the completion of the Dream Factory this year. I urge all employees to review their work at their respective positions and make every effort to enhance competitiveness to raise the current level in all areas."

He is also accelerating win-win management. In-house production will secure cost competitiveness and establish a virtuous cycle system that supplies reasonably priced coffee beans to franchise stores. This will further empower Chairman Moon's win-win management, which aims to reduce costs and increase profits for franchisees. Earlier, when franchise owners' burdens increased due to rising fixed costs such as store rent and minimum wage hikes, he attracted industry attention by lowering the prices of supplies worth about 4 billion KRW for franchise stores. At that time, the neologism "Goddiya (God + Ediya)" emerged. Ediya Coffee still bears all marketing costs at the headquarters level. It spends about 3 billion KRW annually on marketing expenses, including customer promotions via the Members app, social network service (SNS) marketing, product placement (PPL), and franchise store promotional materials.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.