Cold wave is great business for Korea’s coffee houses

Driven by the extreme cold weather, coffee shop chains are enjoying a boom, with their takeout sales of hot drinks increasing by 10 to 15 percent in the second half of last month, sources in the food and beverage industry said yesterday.

Sales of takeout coffee usually rise in the spring and fall, as more people take picnics, but demand surged this winter as people battle subzero temperatures.

Sales of take-out Americanos jumped 15 percent at Pascucci, a local coffee house chain in the last two weeks of December compared to one year earlier. Overall, takeout coffees at Dunkin’ Donuts were up 10 percent over the same period; or 15 percent at Caffe Bene’s six stores in Gangnam.

Another Caffe Bene store on a popular street in Sinsa, southern Seoul, that is densely crowded with offices reported sales rising 15 percent, but its outlet in Coex, a large shopping mall in southern Seoul, only posted a 5 percent increase.