Global Restaurant Franchise Weekly Briefing: Oct 27, 2025
A weekly briefing on global restaurant franchising and what it means for Korean headquarters
Global franchising, international restaurant news, franchise ERP, FDAM, overseas expansion, franchise-first model, sustainability transition, restaurant trends, digital transformation, HQ operating systems
Weekly Briefing · 2025.10.27
Global Restaurant Franchise
Weekly Briefing
This Week's Keywords · US and Philippines — Aggressive store expansion by Biscuit Belly and OldTown White Coffee · China and Brazil — Overseas expansion to Singapore and Portugal accelerates as home markets saturate · Japan and Indonesia — Rising prices and infrastructure gaps intensify pressure for operational efficiency · Vietnam — Poultry industry shifts to sustainability and automation, reshaping ingredient supply chains · India and Hong Kong — The "franchise-first model" rises; Korean brands expand, including Bonjuk's Hong Kong entry |
This is a weekly briefing on international franchising and the restaurant industry for Korean franchisor headquarters. This week, the global restaurant industry is expanding and streamlining at the same time. The US and the Philippines are focused on aggressive store openings, Japan and Indonesia on operational efficiency, China and Brazil on stepping up global expansion, Vietnam on a sustainability transition, and Singapore and India on digital and systems innovation. Sustainability, technology, and localization are this week's key themes.
Compiled by: FDAM, the ERP built for franchises
1. US | Biscuit Belly Signs Deals for 6 New Stores in the Southeast
Brunch-concept franchise Biscuit Belly is accelerating its expansion strategy in the southeastern US (the Florida Panhandle, North Carolina, Georgia, and more), signing agreements for six new stores. It shows franchisors once again leaning hard into concentrated regional expansion and strategies built around tourist and resort destinations.
Takeaways for Korean HQs For Korean headquarters entering the US, a regional hub strategy focused on a specific area is more stable than expanding nationwide all at once. For categories that suit tourist and resort areas, such as brunch, dessert, and cafés, HQ also needs a system that can manage seasonal swings in sales. |
2. China | Restaurant Brands Accelerate Overseas Expansion Into Singapore
Major Chinese restaurant and food and beverage (F&B) companies are making Singapore their first overseas base in response to intensifying competition at home. About 85 Chinese brands now operate some 400 stores in Singapore, an increase of more than 30% from a year earlier. An "offshore expansion franchise strategy" to cope with market saturation in China is gaining momentum.
Takeaways for Korean HQs It's a signal that competition with Chinese brands in Singapore is heating up. Korean headquarters, too, need differentiated category positioning and well-designed local partnerships, not just market entry, to keep stores running stably. |
3. Japan | Service Prices Keep Rising, Squeezing Restaurant Operating Costs
Service sector prices in Japan rose for the second straight month as of September, spreading labor and cost pressures across the restaurant industry. It's read as a signal that franchisor headquarters need to cut operating costs while adjusting menu prices. Japan's restaurant industry is accelerating its shift toward cost-efficient models, such as converting to smaller stores and introducing self-order systems.
Takeaways for Korean HQs When labor and cost pressures mount, Korean headquarters also see results only when they downsize store formats, standardize self-ordering and kiosks, and monitor costs in their HQ ERP, all at the same time. |
4. Hong Kong | Korean Porridge Chain Bonjuk Lands in Hong Kong
Korean porridge chain Bonjuk has reportedly launched in Hong Kong. It's an example of how Hong Kong's restaurant market continues to embrace Asian, and especially Korean, restaurant franchises. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's restaurant scene is also notable for its rapid turnover: in a single week, cocktail lounge Yume opened and Milanese trattoria Testina closed. As with Yume, where a Peruvian bartender serves Japanese-style cocktails, the global fusion trend is spreading into the high-end dining market.
Takeaways for Korean HQs Hong Kong is a market where Korean brands can both enter and settle in quickly, but because store turnover is so fast, stable operations require HQ to have operating data management and a fast decision-making structure in place. |
5. Vietnam | Poultry Industry Plans Upgrade and Sustainability Shift Within 5 Years
The Vietnam Poultry Association (VPA) has announced an industry transformation plan through 2030. The core is building large-scale smart farm systems based on automation and upgrading processing facilities to expand domestic sales and exports. It will also strengthen livestock by-product recycling and links with crop farming by shifting to eco-friendly and organic livestock farming and adopting a circular economy model. This change will have a major ripple effect on the restaurant and franchise industry, and "building an eco-friendly ingredient supply chain" is expected to emerge as a point of cooperation for franchisor headquarters entering Vietnam.
Takeaways for Korean HQs For Korean brands that rely heavily on chicken, such as chicken and bunsik (Korean snack food) chains, designing an eco-friendly supply chain partnership as part of entering Vietnam is becoming increasingly important. Connecting local ingredient certification and traceability systems to the HQ ERP from the early stages of entry helps secure long-term operational stability. |
6. India | Curefoods × Papacream Accelerates Franchising in the Dessert Category
Multi-brand cloud kitchen and QSR operator Curefoods has announced a nationwide franchise expansion in partnership with Papacream. Along with plans to open first in Mumbai and Pune before expanding nationwide in phases, it reflects the accelerating franchising of India's dessert and ice cream category.
Takeaways for Korean HQs When Korean dessert formats enter India, a phased entry with a "master franchisee + regional multi-unit owners" structure is more realistic than expanding through company-owned stores alone. Long-term collaboration is only possible when HQ has an ERP that can manage the master partner's operating data in a standardized form. |
7. Philippines | OldTown White Coffee Plans 20 Store Openings Over the Next 5 Years
Malaysia's leading coffee franchise, OldTown White Coffee, has declared an expansion into the Philippine market, announcing plans to open 20 stores over the next five years. The local entity will invest about PHP 40 million (USD 2.1 million) to expand mainly in Metro Manila and key cities in Cebu. With the Philippine coffee market continuing its rapid growth (over 10% a year) and competition among coffee and dessert franchises within ASEAN heating up, it's seen as a favorable signal for Korean café brands too.
Takeaways for Korean HQs Korean café headquarters entering the Philippines should assume direct competition with Malaysian brands and prepare differentiated pricing, menu lineups, and store formats. Mapping out a five-year store expansion roadmap in the HQ system makes step-by-step KPI management possible. |
8. Indonesia | Free School Meals Program Delayed, Exposing Limits of Food Service Infrastructure
The Indonesian government's free school meals program is reportedly 15% behind schedule due to a lack of kitchen facilities and logistics bottlenecks. It highlights the structural limits of Indonesia's restaurant and institutional catering infrastructure and suggests opportunities for cooperation between the government and private franchises may grow. Cooking and catering automation and contract operations in particular are seen as new markets with high growth potential.
Takeaways for Korean HQs Opportunities are opening for Korean headquarters to enter Indonesian public-private cooperation models in institutional catering, packed meals, and HMR (home meal replacement). To take part in large procurement projects, a prerequisite is HQ ERP infrastructure that can manage ingredient traceability alongside hygiene and inspection records. |
9. India | A "Franchise-First Model" Emerges in Fast Food (QSR)
Recent analysis says India's QSR industry is growing rapidly through a "franchise-first model." According to an ET HospitalityWorld article published on September 25, 2025, the existing mix of company-owned and franchise stores in India's urban and semi-urban areas is being reshaped so that "only franchises with established brands and operating systems can grow." Rising domestic consumption, more frequent dining out, and the spread of delivery services are behind the shift.
Takeaways for Korean HQs When entering India, Korean headquarters need to prepare both "a proven operating model + a localized brand strategy." Only when HQ can pass standard operations directly to franchise stores through its system does it become the kind of "franchise with an established operating system" that the Indian market values. |
10. Brazil | Franchise Expansion Into Portugal Up 68% Over 5 Years
Statistics show that Brazilian franchise brands' entry into the Portuguese market has increased 68% over the past five years. The figure shows that Brazil's restaurant and franchise industry is rapidly shifting beyond growing domestic consumption toward formats built for overseas expansion. For franchisor headquarters, it signals that Brazil is a platform market with potential as a base for expanding into Latin America and Europe, not just a domestic market. That said, risks such as labor and inflation also exist, so expansion strategies need to be built with multiple factors in mind.
Takeaways for Korean HQs It's time for Korean headquarters to shift their thinking from a single country to "hub country → expansion into neighboring regions." As with Brazil's expansion into Portugal, a strategy of connecting markets with strong linguistic and cultural ties and expanding in phases is more stable. |
This Week's Insight
This week's global restaurant market can be summed up in one phrase: expanding and streamlining at the same time. Aggressive store openings continue in the US and the Philippines, while China and Brazil are moving beyond their home markets into overseas markets. At the same time, Japan and Indonesia have turned to efficiency measures to cope with cost pressures and infrastructure limits, Vietnam is shifting to an eco-friendly supply chain, and India is reorganizing around the "franchise-first model."
The key themes are sustainability, technology, and localization. Here are the trends Korean headquarters should review.
Four Trends for Korean HQs to Review ① Regional hub expansion strategy — Secure operational stability by focusing on one region instead of expanding nationwide all at once ② Localized franchise-first model — HQ delivers a proven operating system as the standard ③ Sustainable ingredient supply chains — Build traceability into the ERP from the early stages of entry ④ Data-driven HQ operations — Accumulate store-level P&L and operating data in a system |
Operations ERP for franchisor headquarters
Everything HQ does, from A to Z:
FDAM, the franchise ERP
Manage sales, contracts, store openings, and operations in one system,
and standardize each store's operating data to HQ's standards.
