Chapter 238
Chapter 238
The Ceylon Hotel immediately started the construction of the M Pizza main store.
I looked around the interior with President Lim Su-mi.
Engineers from M Pizza from the United States installed conveyor belts, robot arms, and monitors. It looks like a manufacturing plant rather than a kitchen.
When an order comes in, it is automatically sent to a screen in the kitchen, and the robots recognize which pizza to make.
When a person spreads the dough and puts it on the conveyor belt, the robot arm performs its respective roles, such as sprinkling and spreading tomato sauce, putting it into the oven, and taking it out.
It is quite a strange sight to see in person.
“I plan to make it an open kitchen in the middle of the store. So you can watch the robot move and make the pizza at the table.”
The main branch of Ceylon Hotel does not deliver, only stores.
The thing that Sumi Lim was most concerned about was wine. She chose the wine that went well with the pizza and put it on her menu.
There are expensive wines, but most of them consist of mid- to low-priced wines in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 won. It is aimed at the younger generation.
Sumi Lim, president of the company, said confidently.
“The opening of M Pizza will be a great help in attracting young customers and family customers.”
“Will it be okay?”
“of course. It tastes good, but the fact that it’s a robot-cooked pizza is a great marketing point. The reaction on the Internet and SNS is already hot. Membership inquiries are also pouring in.”
We moved to the coffee shop on the second floor of the hotel.
President Lim Sumi asked while drinking her coffee.
“What do you think of Meister Pizza?”
“I do not know.”
I’m still thinking about what to do.
M Pizza will shake up the Korean pizza market as it did in the US. In particular, Meister Pizza, a latecomer, will be hit directly.
This is business after all, and you should definitely be held accountable for what happened before.
Because the stage where you can move on well has already passed.
I told Mr. Lim Su-mi.
“Can I make one more suggestion about hiring an employee?”
“Yes, tell me.”
Hearing my story, she nodded happily.
“Sure. I will proceed as CEO Kang Jin-hoo said.”
* * *
Kim Jae-hak took the title of the first franchise store.
The 15th Meister Pizza, which had been operating until a few days ago, was closed. When I tried to create a new store in the same place, the location was not good and the space was small. So, OTK Company bought the building opposite Meister Pizza.
The first floor had been vacant for several months, and there was no problem in proceeding with the construction immediately since the quilt shop was operating.
I looked around the store under construction with Jaehak Kim. Again, engineers from the US are struggling.
Oven bikes and oven trucks are also coming into Korea.
Oven delivery is the core of M Pizza. Therefore, it was decided to hire all delivery workers as full-time employees, not part-timers. This was also the case for other branches.
Kim Jae-hak asked me, looking at the spacious store that could not be compared to the previous store.
“Can I really get help like this?”
“It’s not just giving, it’s lending.”
“You don’t seem to have done much for me, are you not treating me too well?”
I remembered what happened that day. It’s been a while, but it was as vivid as yesterday.
“Have you never thought of this?
“What do you think?”
“I wonder what would have happened if the two of us had changed positions at the training ground that day.”
It was he who loaded the shells. If I had been in that position, even if I had seen the foresight, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid it.
Accidents can happen to anyone. It’s not his fault that he lost his leg.
“So be strong. There are many good things to come.”
Jae-Hak Kim smiled.
“Thank you, Jinhoo.”
I said it like a joke.
“If you are grateful, I will work hard and pay you back every penny.”
* * *
Like manufacturing, franchising has economies of scale.
For this reason, MCK Group put its life and death into opening a new Meister Pizza store. Fortunately, the number of franchisees is steadily increasing, and at this rate, I am confident that I will be able to open an additional 50 branches within this year.
However, when the news of M Pizza’s entry into Korea became known, the membership inquiries suddenly stopped. In some cases, the contract was even destroyed right before it was stamped.
The emergence of strong competitive franchises started to weigh on the founders.
MCK Group Chairman Chae Dae-ho was bewildered.
M Pizza was currently sold out in the US market. At the time of his visit, he was on a hold on overseas expansion.
‘But why did you suddenly enter Korea?’
Korea is not a very attractive market because of the high proportion of self-employment among OECD countries, and fierce competition in the catering industry in particular.
In addition, he predicted that it would take a considerable amount of time to enter Korea, as it would first advance to Europe or Japan, which have large populations and markets.
In the meantime, I was trying to lay the groundwork, but I think I’ll join hands with the Ceylon Hotel and make a surprise advance!
While trying to figure out the situation, an employee at Meister Pizza’s headquarters reported a shocking fact.
Upon hearing the story, Dae-ho Chae was startled and immediately called his son.
After a while, Myeong-ho Chae came into the chairman’s room and he immediately asked.
“You said that Jin-hoo Kang came to work as a franchisee?”
Chae Myung-ho wrinkled his expression.
‘Damn it. Who said that?’
He had no choice but to talk about the situation at the time. Of course, the fact that I caught abusive language and grabbed the collar was omitted.
“The franchisee came to protest and talked to me, but Kang Jin-hoo came and took me?”
“Yes.”
“What is your relationship?”
“that… … It is said that the owner of the franchise was a military gunner after Gangjin.
Chae Dae-ho shouted.
“What if I say that now!”
Chae Myung-ho said as if embarrassed.
“I didn’t know either.”
Do you know who the franchisee’s military successor was? He wasn’t even talking about that he was serving in the military the same way he did after Gangjin.
Chae Dae-ho was still meticulously checking his overall management on behalf of his young son. It was he who gave the order to set up a directly managed store opposite him.
‘Did the franchisee ask Jin-hoo Kang for help, so he brought M-Pizza to Korea? Are you trying to kill Meister Pizza?’
It seems unlikely that this will happen, but given the timing, it was exactly right.
MCK Group is a stock company listed on the KOSDAQ and has five subsidiaries. Its market cap is about 500 billion won, which is one of the top three in the franchise industry, excluding large companies.
However, compared to OTK Company, it is no different than a local chicken restaurant.
Who is Jinhoo Kang?
She is the hero who saved America from the earthquake, and she is the richest man in the world beyond Korea.
Above all, no one has ever seen a good match against Kang Jin-hoo.
Chairman Han Min-koo, the second-largest chaebol group in Korea, has resigned in disgrace. The head of the National Intelligence Service and the Prosecutor General were sacked, and the Hoseong Savings Bank went bankrupt. Even the former president is now in custody and awaiting trial.
Chae Dae-ho felt a cold sweat running down his back.
‘Unfortunately, Jin-hoo Kang!’
* * *
I had a separate seat with the owners of Master Chicken and Meister Pizza. It was Kim Jae-hak who gathered these people.
Taek-gyu and Ellie were also present.
Before leaving, Ellie thoroughly reviewed various relevant laws, including Korea’s Fair Trade Act and the Franchise Business Act.
When the store owners sat down, no one could easily open their mouths. They are concerned that they may be disadvantaged by the head office if they say it for nothing.
Headquarters and franchisees are, in principle, partnerships. When the headquarters do well, the franchisees do well, and when the franchisees do well, the headquarters thrive.
However, when the head office starts to use Gapjil, it turns into a hostage game.
If you try to subdue the hostage, before that, the hostage becomes dangerous. Because of this, the hostage has no choice but to cooperate even though he knows that the hostage is bad.
In fact, if a problem arises with the brand and there is a boycott, it is the franchisees, not the headquarters, that suffer the most.
If I had made a living by running a franchise, I would not have come to this place.
I looked around them and said.
“If anything goes wrong with this, I will take responsibility. And when the store closes, we will help you get a job at M Pizza or set up an M Pizza franchise. So please feel free to tell me.”
At my words, the franchisees opened their mouths one by one with courage.
Franchisees must obtain the so-called ‘essential items’ from the head office or a designated company.
It is natural for the head office to supply ingredients for uniform taste and quality at each branch.
There are two problems here.
One is that even items that have absolutely nothing to do with quality are forced to be purchased only from the head office, and the other is that they are exorbitantly expensive.(Read more @ wuxiax.com)
It is understandable that salted chicken, dough, and various seasoning sauces are important ingredients. However, products that are readily available in the market, such as boxes, chopsticks, toilet paper, plastic, and cooking oil, must be purchased at the head office.
Unlike individual stores, the franchise headquarters can purchase in bulk, so the products supplied to the franchisees are more expensive than the market price, despite the fact that they can be purchased below the wholesale price.
Of course, there are various reasons such as different quality and processing cost, but it is impossible for the franchisee to know what makes it 1.5 times more expensive than the wholesale price and 2 times more expensive than the wholesale price.
When one person started to speak, it was a breeze from then on. All kinds of cases of abuse were pouring out like an explosion of water.
“Do you know how many barrels of cooking oil a chicken house uses a day? But cooking oil is really expensive. If you go to the mart right now, you can buy something for 10,000 won, but you have to buy it for 17,000 won at a business.”
“It’s marketing, so they give out umbrellas and calendars, and all the costs are borne by the franchisees.”
“We collect advertising costs every season, but is it true that the original franchisee pays for this?”
“I make a bunch of flyers, hand them over, and then I charge them. I couldn’t even give them all away, so I threw them in the waste bin.”
“If you want to start a business, the head office will come to you and force you to redecorate the interior.”
“The interior is also done only where the head office has a contract, and the cost is ridiculous. They said they couldn’t do it because they didn’t have money, so they told me to get a loan.”
Ellie said with a look of exasperation.
“It’s really different.”
However, there is one company whose name has been appearing since before. It’s MCK Whole Sale.
MCK Wholesale, a subsidiary of MCK Group, is a distribution company that exclusively supplies food materials to all franchises belonging to the group.
Master Chicken with salted chicken and sauce, and Meister Pizza with dough, cheese, and toppings all flow through the hands of MCK Wholesale to the franchisees.
The largest shareholder is Chae Myung-ho, with a whopping 87 percent stake.
Although the name is Wholesale (wholesale), the price boasts more than retail (retail). In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that it has grown by sucking the blood of its franchisees.
So far, let’s say But when you think about it, there is one strange thing.
Why didn’t the head office do such a high-margin business? If that had been the case, the company’s profits would have increased significantly.
“Is this a betrayal?”
Ellie nodded her head.
“It is an obvious betrayal. This is because MCK Wholesale has intercepted the profits that MCK Group should have taken. As such, the shareholders of MCK Group have suffered losses. It is also a violation of the Fair Trade Act.”
In this way, inserting a distribution company in the middle to collect tolls is a common technique used by chaebols in Korea.
Anyway, I learned all the bad things.
Abusive language or assault can appeal to public opinion, but the sentence is weak. In the case of simple assault, even if the agreement is reached, it cannot be prosecuted.
However, breach of trust is a matter that can also be detained depending on the amount of money. Investigation is likely to result in embezzlement.
While I was listening to the conversation, Team Leader Jeong Ki-hong came in and reported to me in a low voice.
“The CEO of Meister Pizza is here.”
