"Watch the Store Instead of Broadcasting? The Wounds Are Enormous"… Baek Jong-won's Heartfelt Confession

Sharing Feelings While Sitting Around with Store Owners

Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, recently expressed his determination to make every effort to revive the 'Yeondon Bolkatsu' brand, which has been in conflict with some franchisees.

On the 29th, CEO Baek uploaded a promotional video for Yeondon Bolkatsu on his YouTube channel. In the video, he was seen discussing the development of new Yeondon Bolkatsu menu items with Kim Eung-seo, the owner of Yeondon. CEO Baek emphasized, "How about strengthening the lunchbox menu rather than the Bolkatsu menu? Some franchisees want to reinforce the lunchbox menu. This could be a turning point for Yeondon Bolkatsu. For the past six months, we have been revising the menu, saying 'Let's add lunchboxes' and 'Let's try frying,'" he said.

On the 29th, Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, posted a video related to Yeondon Bolkatsu.
[Image source: Baek Jong-won YouTube capture]

Also in the video, CEO Baek sat down directly with some Yeondon Bolkatsu franchisees who visited The Born Korea’s culinary development office and shared his feelings. He said, "On broadcasts, they say if you have time, go check the stores, but I get hurt tremendously. We can forcibly promote through advertisements, but don’t other places all collect advertising fees?"

He added, "I try to raise my own recognition by appearing on broadcasts so that we don’t have to use advertising models. I said, 'Since I can go on "Naekkonaemuk" this time, let’s just promote the new menu.' Isn’t that better?"

Meanwhile, The Born Korea, led by CEO Baek, has recently been in conflict with some franchisees of its subsidiary franchise brand Yeondon Bolkatsu. In fact, the business performance of Yeondon Bolkatsu appears somewhat sluggish compared to other brands under The Born Korea.

According to the Yeondon Bolkatsu disclosure documents registered with the Fair Trade Commission, the number of Yeondon Bolkatsu stores increased to 68 after its launch in August 2021 but decreased to 31 as of the 26th. The average annual sales per franchise also dropped by about 40%, from 259.76 million KRW in 2022 to 156.994 million KRW last year.

On the 22nd, CEO Baek directly addressed the controversy surrounding Yeondon Bolkatsu in a video titled "I will explain Yeondon Bolkatsu." He urged viewers to watch the entire video, saying, "Please watch until the end to understand how unfair and frustrating this is," and strongly refuted the articles that raised issues about the franchise.

He said, "The operating profit of a franchise company is obvious. It always comes out of the franchisees’ pockets. Since starting the business in 1993, over 30 years, this is the first time such a case has happened. Unintentionally, a lot of damage seems to have been done to the franchisees. It would be fine if only I felt wronged, but this is not an individual issue; it’s a company issue, and it concerns the livelihoods of about 2,900 franchise owners. This is really not right; it’s killing the company," he appealed.

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