Mom's Touch finds new growth engine overseas

People line up in front of the Mom's Touch pop-up store in Tokyo's Shibuya, Oct. 20. Courtesy of Mom's Touch

The overseas expansion of Korean chicken burger franchise Mom's Touch is growing. Starting with Thailand, the chicken burger specialist has also opened its doors in Mongolia and Japan, according to company officials, Monday.

The current target is fast food markets in Asia where the ongoing global popularity of "K-brands" for music, food, media content and technology has been helping the company's global expansion. The Korean take on chicken stands out as a favorite of foreign tourists coming to the country – thanks to the combination of fried chicken and beer known as "chimaek" as well as samgyetang, a traditional ginseng chicken soup. The company expects the popularity will be more than helpful.

"By growing our global franchise network, we will contribute to promoting Korean foods and the country's restaurant culture worldwide," an official from the company said.

The company, in its most recent global venture, opened a temporary pop-up restaurant in Tokyo's Shibuya District last month. Starting Oct. 20 and running for three weeks, it is the company's first overseas pop-up store.

From the beginning, Mom's Touch Tokyo was a hit. People queued up to enter the restaurant even before its opening the first day and over the following weekend. Over 2,500 customers dropped by and consumed 3,800 items over the first weekend. In 10 days, the restaurant saw more than 10,000 customers, according to the company.

The restaurant kept seats for those who made reservations and was booked out for three weeks straight.

The first Mom's Touch in Mongolia opens at E-mart in Ulaanbaatar's Bayangol District, Sept. 7. Courtesy of Mom's Touch

One of the Tokyo store's five floors is a mini-gallery of costumes, furniture and pictures from "The Remarried Empress," a Korean webtoon that ranked No. 1 on Japan's online cartoon platform Line Manga. The company collaborated with the webtoon team on the decor so visitors can take pictures and amuse themselves amid the classic theme.

"Japan's restaurant culture is advanced and hard to impress," said the company official. "So we first wanted to try the market by opening a pop-up store instead of an actual restaurant."

Having opened over 1,400 restaurants in its home country, which is the most among burger franchises now operating, Mom's Touch opened its first overseas restaurant in Bangkok. It signed a master franchise (MF) contract with Mom's Touch Thailand wihch is owned by Thailand's largest entertainment conglomerate RS Group in April last year.

The deal will see the company opening five restaurants in the Thai capital. The fourth one opened inside Silom Complex, a large-scale mall in the city's financial district of Silom, and the fifth at The Mall Lifestore Bangkapi, another major department store in the city's Bangkapi District. The company plans to open the sixth localized restaurant in the city within this year.

Mom's Touch last April signed another MF deal with Mongolia's Foodville Farm which was founded by Monbakery to introduce Mom's Touch in Mongolia. Monbakery Chairman Ariunbat Dashzeveg supplies fresh meat to the Korean franchise through a safe channel, according to Mom's Touch. The first Mongolian Mom's Touch opened in September at Korean large-scale supermarket E-mart's fourth Mongolian branch in Ulaanbaatar's Bayangol District.