Park Young-sun "Over 63,000 Good Franchise Win-Win Stores"

Minister of SMEs Visits Myeongryunjinsagalbi Yeouido Branch
Franchise Headquarters and Stores Discussion Meeting
45 Franchise Headquarters Join Good Franchise Movement
Number of Franchise Headquarters Supporting COVID-19 Damage Recovery Continues to Increase

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups (center), is speaking to headquarters and franchise representatives about support measures to overcome the COVID-19 crisis at the 'Good Franchise' meeting held on the 4th at Myeongryunjinsa Galbi Yeouido branch in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 4th that it held a roundtable meeting with the 'Good Franchise' initiative, which has stepped up to minimize the damage caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The event took place at Myeongnyun Jinsagalbi Yeouido branch located in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Attendees included Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, Jeong Hyun-sik, Chairman of the Korea Franchise Industry Association, Kang Hyeong-jun, CEO of Myeongnyundang, and Won Jong-min, Chairman of the Myeongnyundang Franchisee Association.

Minister Park expressed gratitude to Myeongnyundang for actively supporting the overcoming of COVID-19 damages. Myeongnyundang started its franchise business in 2017 and currently operates 522 franchise stores under the 'Myeongnyun Jinsagalbi' brand. Last year's sales amounted to approximately 187 billion KRW.

As franchise stores faced difficulties due to the spread of COVID-19, in January, through a win-win agreement with the franchisee association, they supported one month’s rent for all franchise stores (a total of 2.3 billion KRW completed), provided support for temporarily closed stores (a total of 500 million KRW), and also conducted free disinfection for all franchise stores and supplied hand sanitizers.

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups (center), visited the Myeongnyun Jinsa Galbi Yeouido branch located in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 4th to express gratitude for the "Good Franchise" campaign. She handed hand sanitizer to Kang Hyung-jun, CEO of Myeongnyundang (far right), and took a commemorative photo with the officials.

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Fair Trade Commission’s disclosure documents, as of the 3rd, 45 franchise headquarters including Myeongnyundang, Theborn Korea, Mexicana, and BGF Retail have joined the Good Franchise movement. Through these franchises, more than 63,000 franchise stores have received various supports related to overcoming COVID-19.

Minister Park said, "The number of franchise companies participating in COVID-19 support is continuously increasing. In particular, rent and franchise fees are the most burdensome fixed costs for franchise stores, but it is difficult for the government to support these financially, so Good Franchises are playing an important role."

The franchise participants on the day conveyed the difficulties faced on the ground due to COVID-19 and requested additional support measures for good franchise headquarters and franchise stores.

Minister Park stated, "We plan to lower the policy fund interest rate by 0.3 percentage points for Good Franchise headquarters using the SME policy fund budget."

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