국내 최대 커피 가맹점인 카페베네가 갑작스러운 구조조정과 대표이사 월급반납 등의 비상경영을 선포했다. 이유는 동반성장위원회의 중소기업 적합업종 선정이었다.

카페베네는 작년, 베이커리 프랜차이즈 사업의 중기 적합업종 지정의 위험이 있으니 고려해보라는 동반위측의 조언을 무시한 채 베이커리 프랜차이즈 ’마인츠 돔’을 인수한 바 있다.

지난달 베이커리는 중기적합업종에 지정되어 연간성장률은 2%로 규제되었고, 소규모 베이커리로부터 500m 내에는 체인점을 낼 수 없게 되었다. 이에 따라 마인츠 돔은 신규점포를 내는 것이 불가능해졌으며 카페베네의 외식업 프랜차이즈인 대형 레스토랑 ‘블랙스미스’ 역시 외식업 중기적합업종 지정으로 신규 확장이 불가능해졌다.

이달 초, 매장의 신규 확장을 담당하던 본사 직원의 10%인 100여명이 매장으로 발령 났으나, 이중 70여명은 근무 이전을 원치 않아 퇴직금과 위로금을 받고 퇴사했다. 2008년 사업을 시작한 이래 최초의 인력 구조조정이었다.

이에 더해, 고위직 직원 급료의 30%가 삭감됐으며 김선권 대표 역시 그의 급료 전부를 반납할 예정이라고 했다.

프랜차이즈 사업은 신규점포를 낼 때, 가게 주인으로부터 가맹비와 실내장식비를 받지만 좀 더 안정적인 경영을 위해서는 본업으로부터 얻는 수익이 주요 수익원천이 되어야 함은 당연하다. 하지만 카페베네 같은 경우 매출의 50% 이상이 실내장식비에 의존하였으며 영업이익률도 27%였지만, 정작 본업인 커피판매로는 손해를 보고 있는 상황이었다.

기존점포를 유지하고 이익을 내기 위해서 새 점포를 끊임없이 열어야 하는 카페베네의 경영구조를 말해주고 있다.

카페베네는 이러한 이유 때문에, 커피 전문점이 포화상태에 이르자 레스토랑과 드럭스토어, 그리고 베이커리를 인수하였으나, 수익성은 기대에 못 미쳤으며 심지어 드럭스토어는 5개월 만에 사업을 접어야만 했다.

카페베네는 지난 5년간 800개의 가맹점을 열어 급속성장하였다. 김선권 대표는 “해외에서도, 미국과 중국뿐만 아니라 사우디 아라비아, 인도네시아, 말레이시아, 그리고 캄보디아에서까지 가맹점을 열 예정이다”라고 말했다. (코리아헤럴드)

<관련 영문 기사>

Caffe Bene blames regulations for first job cuts

By Kim So-hyun

Caffe Bene, the nation’s largest coffee shop franchise, has started cutting jobs and executive salaries, blaming regulations against expansion of its bakery and restaurant chains.

Industry watchers say, however, that there is more to the sudden “emergency management.”

Caffe Bene took over bakery chain Mainz Dom in December despite the National Commission for Corporate Partnership’s advice to reconsider the acquisition as the panel was discussing restricting bakery franchises.

The state-funded commission last month designated bakeries and restaurants as “SME-only” businesses, barring franchises to keep from opening too many stores or within 500 meters from small bakeries. Large companies in the dining industry including Caffe Bene, which runs Black’smith, were also told not to open more restaurants.

Early this month, Caffe Bene assigned about 100 employees at its headquarters who mostly worked on store expansions, or 10 percent of the total staff at the head office, to work at stores.

About 70 of them quit as they didn’t want to transfer, and left with severance pay and compensation. It was the first time Caffe Bene had cut jobs since the company was launched in 2008.

Caffe Bene chief executive Kim Sun-kwon decided to return his entire paycheck to the company starting this month. Executives are set to give up 30 percent of their monthly salaries.

“Our plans to expand Mainz Dom and Black’smith restaurants this year were altered due to the commission’s decision,” said Caffe Bene spokesman Kim Dong-han.

“Mainz Dome, which has 20 stores, cannot open a new store because the panel limited the number of stores a bakery franchise can open per year to only 2 percent of existing stores. Black’smith, which we started in November 2011, can’t expand further, either.”

Caffe Bene’s revenue and operating profit have continued to grow, but some industry observers say the latest austerity measures have to do with the company’s expansion strategy reaching breaking point. 

A franchise business makes profit out of the franchise fees and interior decoration fees it receives from store owners when they open new shops. But for more stable management, the money it earns from supplying coffee to the stores should be its main source of income.

In the case of Caffe Bene, however, interior decoration fees account for more than half of its sales and show an operating profit-to-sales ratio of 27 percent, while it is losing money in its main business of coffee sales. 

This means that Caffe Bene has to keep opening new stores to maintain profits.

This is why the company started a restaurant business, as the coffee shop market reached saturation point and diversified to other business areas such as drugstores and bakeries, as well as opening 76 Black’smith diners in a year.

But they were not as lucrative as the coffee shop business, leading the firm to shut down the drugstore business in just five months.

Caffe Bene was in the red in the first half of last year as it invested heavily overseas and in Black’smith, according to Kim.

In addition to some 800 Caffe Bene shops that sprung up nationwide in just five years, there are 35 more abroad -- six in the U.S., 27 in China and two in the Philippines.

“More are under construction in the U.S. and China, and we plan to open more shops in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia this year,” Kim said. 

Caffe Bene’s sales more than doubled from 101 billion won in 2010 to an estimated 210 billion won last year. The company’s operating profit grew from 14.8 billion won in 2010 to 17.2 billion won in 2011 and more in 2012.

(sophie@heraldcorp.com)