COVID-19 Sparks Surge in '2030' Chicken Startups... bhc Sees Half of Founders as '2030'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] bhc Chicken announced on the 9th that 2030 generation accounted for 48% of the graduates of the training course for opening new stores last year.

According to bhc Chicken, the proportion of the 2030 generation among all training graduates has steadily increased from 21% in 2014 to 30% in 2016 and 35% in 2018, indicating a continuous rise in youth entrepreneurship. In particular, in 2020, it surpassed 40% for the first time, reaching a record high. This is more than double the size compared to 2014, the year after independent management began.

Looking separately at those in their 20s and 30s, last year the proportion of 30s among training graduates was 26%, slightly ahead of the 20s at 22%.

However, compared to 2014, the proportion of those in their 30s increased by about 7%, showing a gradual rise, whereas the proportion of those in their 20s, which was only 2.4% at the time, increased nearly tenfold over seven years. This is interpreted as the 20s, who had relatively little interest in entrepreneurship, rapidly increasing and leading youth entrepreneurship.

bhc Chicken attributes the explosive increase in entrepreneurship among those in their 20s to targeting the 2030 generation as the main audience since independent management began, developing new menus with a youthful sensibility, active marketing, and various social contribution activities, which fostered high trust and preference through communication with the younger generation.

Additionally, the social phenomenon of entrepreneurship age spreading to younger groups due to a prolonged recession and the fact that chicken franchises are easy to start with relatively low capital also played a significant role. Especially last year, bhc Chicken analyzed that the rise in non-face-to-face consumption due to COVID-19 led to a significant increase in delivery demand, including chicken, which also contributed.

A bhc Chicken official said, “After retirement, chicken franchises were the main startup item, so middle-aged and older generations dominated, but recently, as entrepreneurship among the 2030 generation has increased, franchise store generational replacement is underway,” adding, “Young generations familiar with delivery apps, SNS, and IT culture are turning their attention to the digital environment of the food service industry startups, so the upward trend in youth entrepreneurship is expected to continue.”

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