Salad bars (buffets) of family restaurants such as ‘Ashley’ and ‘VIPS’ have started aggressive management along with Endemic (endemic epidemic). Existing stores have been reorganized luxuriously, and additional stores have been opened to meet the tastes of consumers who value cost-effectiveness (price-to-satisfaction).
According to the industry on the 30th, E-Land Eats opened Ashley Queen’s Hongdae Wise Park store on the 28th. Ashley, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, is the seventh newly opened store this year.
E-Land Eats is again expanding the Ashley store, which was reduced due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). The number of Ashley stores, which reached 103 at the time before the Corona 19 incident, decreased to 58 at the end of last year, reducing by almost half.
In the second half of this year, it plans to open about 20 new stores in new towns and complex shopping malls. An official from E-Land Eats said, “Ashley Queens aims to open 150 stores by next year,” and explained, “We plan to open about 85 stores by next year.”
After the COVID-19 crisis, E-Land Eats is taking a high-end strategy along with store efficiency improvement. Stores that were subdivided into ‘Ashley’, ‘Ashley W’ , and ‘Ashley Queens’ in the past have been converted into premium stores, Ashley Queens, from 2020. After switching to Ashley Queens, the menu has diversified from about 80 to about 200.
‘VIPS’, run by CJ Foodville, has also started to upgrade its quality. By closing unprofitable stores, the number of stores was reduced from 41 in 2019 to 27 at the end of last year, but instead of the existing ‘VIPS Original’, it was converted to ‘VIPS Premier’. The Premier store is a store with the addition of a ‘Wine & Pairing Zone’ where you can enjoy unlimited alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer as well as snacks. VIPS entered into endemic by adding one store this year.
Stores reorganized from VIPS Original to Premier showed안전놀이터 the effect of improving sales. An official from CJ Foodville said, “As a result of analyzing the results of the month before and after the reopening, the daily average sales of ‘Jeju Branch’ increased by 196%, ‘Busan W Square Branch’ by 101%, and ‘Songdo Branch’ by 72%. The average number of visitors to the store per day increased by about 70%.”
Ashley Queens sales are also growing rapidly. Sales in the first half of this year increased by 50% compared to the first half of last year and before Corona 19, Eland Eats said.
An official from E-Land Eats explained, “Ashley’s operating profit in the first half of the year has already exceeded last year’s annual performance. The Jamsil store, the No.
In the industry, it was interpreted that this was the result of the fact that the cost of buffets at family restaurants, where discounts on affiliated cards could be applied, was highlighted as food prices were on a high march. The price of an adult weekday lunch per meal is 19,900 won at Ashley Queens and 37,900 won at VIPS, depending on the type of store, but on a premium basis. On weekend evenings, the price rises to 47,900 won, but does not exceed 50,000 won.
Considering that the average price of samgyetang in Seoul is over 16,000 won per bowl, up more than 10% from a year ago, it is evaluated that the price/performance ratio (price/performance) is relatively high as well as cost-effectiveness from the consumer’s point of view.
According to ‘Participation Price’, operated by the Korea Consumer Agency, the prices of eight dining-out items most sought after by consumers in June this year have risen by 6-10% over the past year. In Seoul, it has become difficult to buy not only samgyetang (average price 16,423 won), but also naengmyeon (11,154 won) and bibimbap (10,346 won) with a 10,000 won piece.
Last month, the overall inflation rate was only 2.7% (compared to the same month last year), but food prices continued to rise relatively sharply. Processed food and restaurant prices rose in all directions. Processed food prices rose 7.5% in June, and food prices rose 6.3%, far exceeding the overall inflation rate, which was lowered in the aftermath of falling petroleum prices.
There is also an analysis that the intensity of competition has decreased relatively as the buffet stores operated by Shinsegae Food’s’Orban’ and others withdrew due to Corona 19.