"First Half Year Startups Up 11%, Closures Down 9%... Education, Service, and Food Service Industries Popular"

Net Increase of 19,606 Startups... 43% Rise Compared to Previous Year

According to a survey conducted by Finda, a big data fintech company specializing in loans, the number of startups in the first half of this year increased by 11.2% compared to the same period last year. The most popular industries were education, services, and food and beverage.

On the 7th, Finda released the "2023 First Half Self-Employment Startup Report" through the commercial district analysis platform OpenUp. According to the report, the number of startups in the first half of this year was 236,820, an increase of about 11.2% compared to 212,939 in the first half of last year. The number of closures was 217,214, an increase of about 9.0% compared to 199,228 in the same period last year.

The net increase in startups was 19,606, a 43.0% increase compared to the same period last year. Industries with high growth rates included education (22.20%), services (16.58%), and food and beverage (11.61%).

The number of offline stores operating in the first half of this year was 1,987,777, an increase of about 3.75% compared to 1,915,873 in the same period last year. By industry, the order was food and beverage (821,742 stores), retail (495,384 stores), and services (289,672 stores).

The industry with the highest growth rate in operating stores compared to the same period last year was entertainment (6.48%), which includes karaoke rooms and gyms. This was followed by services (5.53%) and education (5.50%).

Even within the largest sector, food and beverage, there were clear differences among sub-industries. In terms of the number of operating stores, Korean cuisine (363,038 stores) ranked overwhelmingly first, followed by cafes (91,034 stores) and snack/noodle shops (56,133 stores).

The growth rates in operating stores compared to the same period last year were highest for cafes (10.19%), fusion world cuisine (9.21%), and Japanese cuisine (9.13%). In terms of startup growth rates, Chinese cuisine was highest at 18.55%, followed by other restaurants (17.74%) and Korean cuisine (13.96%).

Finda also disclosed the average franchise startup costs for the food and beverage industry in the first half of the year. Franchise startup costs were estimated by summing the first month's rent and deposit (monthly rent x 10 months), franchise joining fees, training fees, deposits, other expenses, and interior costs.

The industries with the highest average startup costs were bakeries (294.15 million KRW), burger specialty stores (219.58 million KRW), and soup dishes (211.43 million KRW). The industries with the largest average area were soup dishes (128.79㎡), grilled meat (122.28㎡), and bakeries (112.86㎡).

Conversely, the industries with the lowest average startup costs were pizza specialty stores (103.06 million KRW), chicken and fried chicken (117.68 million KRW), and cafes (123.94 million KRW). The industries with the smallest average area were pizza specialty stores (44.62㎡), cafes (52.57㎡), and chicken and fried chicken (57.17㎡).

Hwang Changhee, Product Owner of Finda OpenUp, said, "Prospective owners considering franchise startups can use the OpenUp food and beverage startup calculator to get detailed estimates of expected startup costs. To reduce the risk of early closure, it is necessary to invest in data-based commercial district analysis like OpenUp before starting a business and make careful decisions."

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