'Kim Dongseon Hamburger' Achieves Annual Sales of 10 Billion Won... Hanwha to Develop Franchise Specialist Company

First Regular General Meeting After Human Split on the 26th Morning
Five Guys Achieved 10 Billion KRW Sales from 2 Stores Last Year
CEO Kim Young-hoon: "Profit Improvement Will Be Carried Out Without Delay"

Hanwha Galleria has unveiled a blueprint to transform into a franchise specialist company based on Five Guys, which it launched last year. Five Guys is one of the top three burger brands in the United States, and it is called the 'Kim Dongseon Hamburger' in Korea after Kim Dongseon, head of strategy at Hanwha Galleria and the third son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon, brought it to the country.

On the 26th, Kim Young-hoon, CEO of Hanwha Galleria, stated in his greeting at the regular shareholders' meeting held at Hanwha Financial Center 63 in Yeouido, Seoul, "We will grow into a differentiated franchise specialist company through the successful establishment of Five Guys, a global food and beverage business that we started and settled last year."

Kim Young-hoon, CEO of Hanwha Galleria, is giving a greeting speech at the 1st regular shareholders' meeting held on the 26th at Hanwha Financial Center 63 in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Hanwha Galleria

Five Guys is an American handmade burger brand operated by FG Korea, a subsidiary of Hanwha Galleria. After opening its first store in Gangnam, Seoul, in June last year, it opened its second store in The Hyundai Seoul in October of the same year, and its third store at the Gangnam Express Bus Terminal in February this year. CEO Kim said, "This was a new brand launch to diversify our business portfolio."

Industry analysts say that Five Guys has been successful in the domestic premium handmade burger market in its first year of operation. According to Hanwha Galleria’s business report, FG Korea, established last year, and Vino Galleria, a wine sales company, recorded sales of 10.42885 billion KRW last year, with most of the revenue coming from the sales of the first and second Five Guys stores opened last year, the company explained.

Hanwha Galleria plans to open more than 15 stores over the next four years, including the opening of the fourth Five Guys store in the first half of this year. CEO Kim said, "We plan to steadily pursue profit improvement through business expansion and operational efficiency."

Last year, Hanwha Galleria recorded sales of 434.5 billion KRW and an operating profit of 9.8 billion KRW, including its core department store business. The net loss was 30.1 billion KRW. CEO Kim explained, "This was due to one-time costs such as various fees incurred during the personnel split process and the withdrawal from inefficient businesses."

He added, "Our economy is expected to face a very challenging year with limited growth predicted amid rising global inflationary pressures and uncertainty over interest rates. However, we will achieve qualitative growth through efforts such as pioneering new markets and strengthening internal capabilities, and enhance our competitiveness in the distribution industry."

Hanwha Galleria was newly listed last March after a personnel split from Hanwha Solutions. This shareholders' meeting was the first held since the personnel split, and Kim Dongseon, the company’s second-largest shareholder, did not attend. Kim has been continuously purchasing company shares since the personnel split last year. As of the 22nd, his stake in Hanwha Galleria stands at 1.89%.

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