Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
SEOUL, KOREA - Mister Pizza, Korea's homegrown pizza franchise brand, will accelerate its forays into the Chinese market by opening up to 100 stores within this year. Lee Jae-won, head of the Chinese unit of MPK Group, said on January 27, "We set this year's strategic focus at moving into the Chinese market more aggressively. In addition to the 30 existing locations in the country, we will open 70 more stores centered on major commercial zones."
Its Mister Pizza Beijing unit will step up its effort to increase franchisee numbers while the Mister Pizza Shanghai company is to focus more on opening stores under direct management. Separately the company will join hands with China's Golden Eagle Group to set up shop in Golden Eagle Department Stores alone the 300-kilometer Shanghai-Nanjing corridor. In March this year, the first Mister Pizza store will move in to the Golden Eagle Department Store Nanjing.
Currently China's pizza franchise market is dominated by Pizza Hut. Based on the experience of unseating Pizza Hut from the No. 1 position in Korea, however, Mister Pizza is confident that it will be able to compete neck-and-neck with Pizza Hut. Lee of MPK added, "Last year we laid the foundation for the Chinese business and we will this year begin to make a big difference in the Chinese market. As a premium brand representing Korea, we will do our best to become a brand that can appeal to the Chinese customers too."