The tendency to view 'Instagramable' foods as a food trend is disappearing. The sustainability of managing a brand for a long time and enduring it well is becoming more important.
Nam Min-jeong (46), CEO of Insight Platform, met with ChosunBiz in her office in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam, Seoul, on the 19th and was asked about recent trends in the food and beverage (F&B) market. She noted, 'Competing on trendiness lasts only about 1 to 2 years. It is common for a restaurant brand that has received the spotlight to disappear just 2 years later.'
CEO Nam received her master's degree in restaurant management from New York University in 2004 and her doctoral degree in tourism from Hanyang University in 2013. She has worked at CJ Freshway and Tower Holdings. Based on her experience in the field, she founded Insight Platform in 2018. Insight Platform is a consulting company that conducts research on the restaurant, F&B, and hospitality industries and provides education and trend analysis.
The sustainability that CEO Nam refers to is the competitiveness of being able to operate a brand for over 5 years. It encompasses whether people continue to visit consistently since the brand was first introduced, whether high consumer satisfaction is maintained, and more. She stated, 'Sustainability does not necessarily mean financial success,' adding, 'It means having well-rounded competitiveness across all areas like taste, atmosphere, service, and hygiene.'
CEO Nam mentioned that experience adds synergy to sustainability. She cited the example of Shawnino, a small Italian restaurant in Yongsan, Seoul. She explained, 'The cozy atmosphere with warm sunlight, delicious brunch, and the friendliness of the staff created word-of-mouth that has made Shawnino a popular restaurant where people line up for 4 to 5 years.'
In particular, CEO Nam emphasized that for K-foods, which have gained stature due to the K-content craze, to become 'brands that continue to thrive' overseas, maintaining essential uniqueness (identity) is crucial. She noted, 'While preserving the flavors and food culture of Korea, adapting to local tastes can come across to them as 'hip.'' The following is a Q&A.
What are the common factors of restaurant brands that survive and succeed for a long time?
'Good ingredients for delicious food, employee training for providing high-quality service, and avoiding cheap raw materials for maintaining concepts may differ in philosophy, but there is no compromise in the brand representative's philosophy. For example, 'Sun & Food,' which operates Modern Shabu House, is known for its unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction being the top priority. This philosophy is delegated to store managers and employees so that they can respond directly at the site, and only the highest quality shabu-shabu ingredients are prepared and served.'
How should overseas K-restaurant brands reflecting local consumer preferences and culture survive in the long term?
'How well we convey Korean food culture is the key. A good example is 'Cote,' a Korean steakhouse in New York, which successfully combines the Korean-style barbecue culture of grilling meat at the table with a wine list that New Yorkers enjoy. They reflected the desire to enjoy Korean food culture while incorporating local preferences.'
Another representative example is 'Chisham,' a combination of Korean-style chicken and champagne by the sister brand 'Coqodaq.' This approach is about borrowing some local tastes for K-food, rather than transforming Korean cuisine into 'fusion' like local food.
In the end, what is essential for a brand to survive long-term is connecting traditional with modern. What values do you find important from the perspective of modernizing tradition?
'It's important whether it resonates with the MZ generation. Since it is a restaurant, aspects like food, taste, and atmosphere should remain as they are, but it's equally important to incorporate aspects like hygiene, friendliness, and fun that contemporary society desires. I believe places like Taegeukdang, Sungsimdang, and Gwangjang Market are solving this wisely. Park Ga-ne, the representative of 'Park Gane Bindaetteok' at Gwangjang Market, noted, 'The business would have thrived with the methods of the grandmother generation, but hygiene and friendliness were areas that needed improvement. We also attracted pop-ups that younger generations would enjoy to draw them in.'
There is a growing trend of food tech tailored to user experience (UX). How do you envision food tech being utilized moving forward?
'The perspective of consumers embracing food tech has changed. Four to five years ago, they would visit stores to check out 'barista robots,' but now they assess whether using cooking and serving robots is genuinely efficient. Notably, there is an intersection emerging where chefs are starting food tech companies or food tech companies are opening restaurants. I believe food tech that realistically addresses 'the problems faced on-site' will develop.'
It is also anticipated that menu ordering and recommendations based on experience data, rather than simply QR menus or table orders, will become possible. For instance, Walmart in the U.S. has a refrigerated facility covered with a screen in front, which recognizes the iris and movements of consumers looking at specific products and provides all the information about the product they wish to purchase on the screen. While this technology is currently only used in retail stores, its potential application in restaurant brands is also high.
What is the outlook for the F&B market and industry in the next 5 years?
'It is expected to be distinctly divided into restaurant brands and food categories that maximize efficiency and experience. Technologies that allow for quick meal preparation, like meal kits and convenience store lunchboxes, along with food tech advancements that can produce finished goods in under 2 minutes, will continue to evolve.'
'Conversely, there will likely be more menus or brands that incorporate media art. This development reflects the demand of today's experience-oriented generation. Ultimately, brand operators will focus on efficiency while consumers focus on experience, leading to increasingly detailed development of food tech.'
Finally, is there anything else you'd like to say?
'Sustainability is a brand image that satisfies both consumers and operators. F&B brands that adopt ambiguous strategies will inevitably become obsolete and disappear. We are in an era where we cannot compete with uncertain approaches. If one dreams of success in the F&B market, it is time to reconsider this aspect.'