Lim Jaewon, CEO of GoPizza, "Adding 200 Overseas Stores Next Year"

"Plan to Open Over 100,000 Stores Worldwide Within the Next 10 Years"
"The Convenience of Single-Serving Pizza Enhances Brand Competitiveness"

Lim Jaewon, CEO of GoPizza. Photo by GoPizza

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] "We want to become a global brand present in all major countries, like McDonald's. Within the next 10 years, we plan to open more than 100,000 stores worldwide."

Lim Jaewon, CEO and founder of the food tech startup GoPizza, famous for its 'single-serving pizza,' expressed this ambition in an interview with Asia Economy on the 14th.

GoPizza is a pizza franchise that CEO Lim started in 2016 as a food truck at the Yeouido Night Market in Seoul. Entering the fiercely competitive domestic pizza market as a latecomer, GoPizza has rapidly grown by establishing a reputation for its cost-effective pizzas. Based on efficient pizza production technology utilizing AI and robotics, it was selected as a 'Baby Unicorn' company by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in June 2020. Currently, there are about 120 domestic stores, with plans to increase to 130 this year.

CEO Lim emphasized, "Next year, new business models combining CGV stores, convenience stores, gas stations, and GoPizza will also enter baseball stadiums. Since we pioneered single-serving pizzas in the domestic market, we will strive to widen the differentiation gap from other pizza brands."

Judging early on that the domestic pizza market had reached saturation, CEO Lim actively pursued overseas business from the start. GoPizza currently operates about 30 overseas stores in countries such as India, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. It is known that overseas sales account for more than 40% of total sales.

CEO Lim stated, "I believe that for a food service company to last long, it must inevitably expand overseas. The appropriate number of domestic stores is around 500 to 600, and the brand can grow and sustain itself by expanding its territory with about 9,000 stores overseas."

To this end, next year, GoPizza plans to open 80 stores in India, 50 in Singapore, and 50 more in other countries. CEO Lim said, "This year, overseas sales reached about 10 billion KRW, and our goal for next year is to exceed 20 billion KRW. We will open 10 new stores overseas by the end of this year, and most of next year's openings are planned overseas, so overseas sales could surpass domestic sales by at least 60 to 80%."

CEO Lim analyzed, "In India, consumers eat a lot of pizza, but many have limited budgets for price. Because of this, GoPizza, which offers affordable single-serving pizzas, seems to have gained popularity." He added, "In Singapore, sales are about twice the Korean average. We have never done marketing there, but this level of performance is due to the local consumers' favorable pizza culture and the convenience of single-serving pizzas, which enhances our brand competitiveness."

GoPizza recently succeeded in raising 25 billion KRW in Series C funding, with most of the investment planned for overseas business. CEO Lim said, "Despite the difficult investment market, we are pleased to have been recognized for our company's growth potential and future value by existing shareholders' follow-up investments and reputable new investors."

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