[THE INVESTOR] CJ Foodville, a food services company under Korean conglomerate CJ Group, will step up its global expansion led by its bibimbab-themed restaurant Bibigo, bakery Tous Les Jours and Twosome Cafe, the head of the company said Monday.

“Our goal is to become a top 10 global food services company, beating McDonald’s and Starbucks,” Jung Moon-mok, CEO of CJ Foodville said at a press conference for the opening of its restaurant complex CJ FoodWorld inside the COEX Mall in southern Seoul. 

The food giant, with 12 different restaurant brands under its corporate umbrella, operates a total of 2,546 stores -- 2,258 in Korea and 288 in overseas. Among the company’s yearly sales figure of 1.3 trillion won ($ 1.135 billion), sales from overseas market make up 11 percent. Jung said the company’s goal is to increase overseas market sales to 52 percent of the total sales by 2020, on the company’s 10th year of entering the foreign markets. It also plans to increase the total number of stores to 7,227 by 2020, mostly focusing on China, the U.S. and Southeast Asian countries.

While domestic sales are a major revenue source for CJ Foodville, industry insiders say growth in the local market has reached its limit due to prolonged economic recession and restrictions against conglomerates’ expansion in food business.

“Unlike Japanese, Vietnam and Thai food that became part of life in many foreign countries, Korean food has received less attention among many ethnic foods, which means more room to grow,” Jung said. “CJ Group’s vision is for foreigners to eat Korean food more than once or twice a month,” he said.

Jung also talked about the CJ Group’s ongoing bid to acquire McDonald’s Korean unit.

“CJ Group has submitted a letter of intent but as to the details regarding which affiliate would be in charge, it is undecided,” he said. Though Jung mentioned that he has always been interested in McDonald’s operations as a quick-service restaurant, where customers can receive food immediately after taking the order.


By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)