Coffee Specialty Store 'Paul Bassett' to Expand into a Complex Dining Venue

‘The Kitchen Ilpporno’ Expands Pizza-Focused Stores
“Capsule and Robot Coffee Cannot Replace Communicative Baristas”

Barista Paul Bassett is giving an interview to reporters on the 1st at Paul Bassett Jeju Yongdam DT (Drive-Thru) store.

Barista Paul Bassett Visits Korea…1Day Extraction Event Held at Jeju Yongdam DT Branch

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The coffee specialty store 'Paul Bassett,' named after the famous Australian barista Paul Bassett, is expanding into a complex dining establishment.

Paul Bassett, who visited Korea on the 2nd to hold a '1Day Extraction Event' at the Jeju Yongdam DT branch, said in a meeting with reporters the day before, "I plan to revisit Korea this November to inspect machinery and equipment related to new business."

Paul Bassett is a coffee chain named after Australian barista Paul Bassett, who won the 2003 Barista Championship. In Korea, Maeil Dairies opened the first store at Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam in 2009, expanded to 10 stores by 2011, and established a subsidiary called M's Seed in 2013 to operate the business. As of this month, there are 116 Paul Bassett stores nationwide, all operated as directly managed stores.

Recently, M's Seed has been accelerating the expansion of the Italian casual dining restaurant business 'The Kitchen Il Porno.' The Kitchen Il Porno, launched in May last year, is an authentic Southern Italian casual dining restaurant newly introduced after the closure of 'The Kitchen Salvatore,' previously operated by Maeil Holdings. Currently, five stores operate nationwide, including locations in Seoul Gwanghwamun, Cheongdam, and Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, with plans to open two more within the year.

Earlier, Kim Yongcheol, CEO of M's Seed, said when opening a specialized store combining The Kitchen Il Porno's pizza at the Paul Bassett Busan Haeundae I-Park branch in January this year, "We planned a special type of store combining coffee and pizza to offer customers a more diverse experience," adding, "We will continue to increase pizza-specialized stores considering regional characteristics."

The Jeju Yongdam DT (drive-thru) branch, visited by Paul Bassett for the first time in three years since COVID-19, is also such a specialized store. This branch is not only well located near tourist attractions but is also known as the highest-grossing DT-type store due to the high price of menu items like pizza.

This visit by Paul Bassett is interpreted as a strategic move to actively expand Paul Bassett from a coffee specialty store into a complex dining establishment.

Regarding the home cafe culture enjoying capsule coffee at home and the emergence of robot baristas due to the non-face-to-face trend during the past three years of COVID-19, Paul Bassett expressed, "While these new coffee forms can deliver consistent taste and reduce the time to make coffee, consumers still want to come to offline stores to enjoy the atmosphere, exchange information about beans and roasting with baristas and other customers, and have social interactions."

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