Among franchise stores in Korea, fried chicken chains earned the least throughout last year, according to data from Statistics Korea last week.

The number of franchise stores, the number of employees there and the annual revenue all inched up from the previous year.

Gangwon Province had the largest number of franchise stores per capita, while South Jeolla Province had the least.

Fried chicken chains earned an average of 169.1 million won throughout last year, the lowest among 12 types of franchises.

Just ahead were bars serving draft beer with 173.7 million won and gimbap and Korean instant food chains at 187.9 million won.

Pharmacies earned the most at an average of 1.045 billion won.

The agency said that fried chicken chains tend to face the fiercest competition as the business launch barrier is relatively lower compared to other types of franchises.

This is the first time for Statistics Korea to collect data exclusively for franchises from its overall survey on service industries. All numbers are preliminary with the final figures due next month.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)