Offline Crisis... Angel-in-us Strengthens 'Food' Following Coffee Beans

Store Numbers Decline and Deficits Increase... Enhancing Coffee Bean Quality and Introducing Ready-to-Cook Food
"Capturing Consumer Taste with Coffee Bean + Food Collaboration"

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] Lotte GR&S's franchise coffee specialty store Angel-in-us has taken active steps to strengthen its food line and recover from sluggish performance.

On the 23rd, Angel-in-us announced the launch of the instant-cooked sandwich product series 'Banh Mi.' It is rare for a coffee franchise to introduce instant-cooked food menu items.

The new Banh Mi sandwich is made to suit Korean tastes based on the representative Vietnamese meal, Banh Mi. It features a large 21cm size baguette bread made with rice, which is soft and chewy, filled generously with fresh vegetables and meats, allowing customers to enjoy a 'crispy outside, moist inside' texture.

The five varieties include 'Original Bulgogi,' which has a smoky flavor with bulgogi and coriander to evoke Vietnamese local taste; 'Chicken & Cheese,' with sweet teriyaki sauce, chicken breast, and cheddar cheese; 'BBQ Pork,' with spicy barbecue sauce and pork; 'Ham & Egg,' filled with sliced ham and egg vegetables; and 'Egg Mayo,' consisting of egg salad and eggs.

Earlier last month, Angel-in-us also launched the 'Fresh Campaign,' using freshly roasted beans and only beans opened on the same day to improve coffee taste quality. They use only beans produced in Ethiopia, Colombia, and Brazil, known for their top quality, and reduced the bean package size used in stores from 2kg to 1kg. This measure aims to minimize oxidation of opened beans and loss of coffee aroma to maximize freshness.

This challenge by Angel-in-us is aimed at recovering continuously shrinking offline performance. The number of Angel-in-us stores decreased from 642 in 2018 to 575 the following year, and down to 552 as of the end of last month. The number of premium stores with professional baristas, 'Angel-in-us Coffee Specialty,' which was ambitiously launched in 2014, also sharply declined from 11 stores in 2018 to 9 the following year, and down to 3 as of the end of last month.

According to the Fair Trade Commission's Franchise Business Information Disclosure System, Angel-in-us's net loss expanded annually from 11.328 billion KRW in 2016 to 31.19 billion KRW in 2017, and 32.479 billion KRW in 2018.

An Angel-in-us representative stated, "We will transform with a new image by strengthening the food product line," adding, "We plan to actively appeal to consumers through collaboration between coffee made with high-quality beans and food menus."

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