Chicken franchise BBQ expanding to 34 nations

Genesis, a Korean franchise group that owns the fried chicken delivery chain BBQ, is expanding to Latin America, China and the Middle East.
BBQ mainly delivers various types of fried, barbecued and smoked chicken.
Genesis signed a master franchise contract with Luxury Food, a company that is part of the Bren Group in Equador, the company said yesterday. A master franchise contract means the headquarters provides business expertise to a local firm, which handles day-to-day operations under collaborative investment and management.
According to the contract, BBQ franchises will be set up in five countries ― Equador, Venezuela, Peru, Chile and Bolivia.
The company will also set up a local subsidiary in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with plans to open its first BBQ outlet by the end of the year. The outlets will also be managed through master franchise contracts.
For each BBQ chain that is opened, Genesis will receive an initial royalty of $5,000 and then a running royalty of 3.5 percent of the chain’s total revenue.
The master franchise fee for the five South American countries was $1 million; the Arab countries are $200,000 each, Genesis said.
Genesis also established a subsidiary in Panama, and formed memorandums of understanding with local investors to begin business later this year in Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Cuba.
In Mexico, Genesis signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean cell phone maker Skyzen, with plans to open the first chain this year.
“Currently, BBQ has expanded to 18 countries and by the end of this year, we will expand our foreign network to 34 countries,” said Yoon Hong-geun, chairman of Genesis.
“We already advanced to Shanghai in 2003, and this year we are targeting Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.”

By Wohn Dong-hee Staff Writer [wohn@joongang.co.kr]