Korea's food and dining industry is heading to Laos one after another. The industry says the strategy is not simply to target the Laotian market but to use the distribution network and business infrastructure of KOLAO Group, the country's largest private company, to expand into Southeast Asia.
On the 25th, according to the food and dining industry, EDIYA COFFEE, Paris Baguette and Dookki recently opened their first stores in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Earlier, Mom's Touch, Lotteria, No Brand and Shinsegae Factory Store also entered the market or expanded their businesses there, making Laos a new overseas base.
A common thread among recent entrants is that most have teamed up with KOLAO Group. EDIYA COFFEE, Paris Baguette and Dookki signed master franchise (MF) agreements with KOLAO and opened their first Laos stores side by side at the Kok Kok Mega Mall, a shopping center operated by KOLAO. Convenience store E-MART24 is also working with KOLAO to push its local convenience store business.
KOLAO is a company founded in 1997 in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, by South Korean Chairman Oh Se-young with a car assembly and sales business. Since then, it has expanded into automobiles and motorcycle manufacturing as well as distribution, construction, finance, leisure and bioenergy. In the industry, KOLAO is effectively seen as a "Laos entry platform" for Korean companies. Built on its automotive business, KOLAO's nationwide network and capabilities in distribution, real estate and logistics help overseas brands reduce early trial and error and establish themselves locally.
For Korean companies, partnering with a player that understands the local market and has a business base offers the advantage of reducing the expense and time of building their own organizations and distribution networks. An EDIYA COFFEE official said, "We judged that combining KOLAO's local expertise and network with EDIYA COFFEE's research and development (R&D) and franchise operation capabilities would enable a stable market entry and business expansion."
It is also notable that all the recent entrants are opening their first stores at Vientiane's Kok Kok Mega Mall. Starting with Dookki, EDIYA COFFEE and Paris Baguette have moved in one after another, and Shinsegae Factory Store is operating its first official overseas store in the same mall. In Southeast Asian mixed-use malls once dominated by global brands, clusters of Korean brands are emerging.
A franchise industry official said, "KOLAO is proactive about attracting Korean companies," adding, "If you go to Kok Kok Mega Mall, it almost feels like a Korean shopping mall." A Paris Baguette official said, "In Laos, demand for premium dining and cafe culture is steadily increasing, and with urbanization, consumers' lifestyles are changing rapidly."
Some also analyze that this movement is more about securing a foothold to enter the Mekong region (including Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar) than the Laotian market itself. In the past, companies prioritized larger markets such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia, but recently more are verifying operating models and localization strategies in Laos, where competition is relatively lighter, before expanding into neighboring countries.
In fact, one coffee franchise included plans to enter not only Laos but also Cambodia and Myanmar in the MF agreement it signed with KOLAO last year. A company official said, "Starting with entry into the Laotian market, we plan to expand our business base in Southeast Asia step by step."