Overseas Expansion Strategy of Food Franchise Companies (Case Study)

The purpose of this study is to establish a strategy for overseas expansion of restaurant franchise companies based on the current status and success cases of domestic restaurant franchise companies. For a restaurant franchise business to grow continuously, it must be based on the recruitment of franchisees and the continuous sales of the franchisees. However, in reality, there is a limit to recruiting franchisees, and franchise headquarters are seeking overseas expansion to overcome these limitations. This study conducted a case study on strategies for overseas expansion targeting ‘Dookki,’ a franchise company specializing in food service that successfully realized overseas expansion. Douki is currently in Vietnam, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, and is focusing on overseas expansion with a unique concept of a Korean buffet. It is getting a good response from local consumers in each country due to the characterization of the Korean buffet and the atmosphere of the store. Based on the master franchise system, Dookki has established a profit structure through royalties, opening fees, and logistics exports. Through this study, it was confirmed that the importance of master franchise, localization strategy, and employee training are important factors for overseas expansion. As the current COVID-19 situation is prolonged and the fourth epidemic is in progress, important contents were extracted through telephone interviews with officials from the Douki headquarters, franchise experts, and franchise professors.