"Is This Really Busan or Gyeongju?" Chinese Brands Lead With Hot Pot and Malatang... "They're Raking In Korean Money" [China Shock, K-Industry on the Brink | Food] (3)

Chinese Restaurant Brands Bound for Korea Expand Nationwide
Chabaidao, Haidilao Speed Up Openings Outside the Seoul Metropolitan Area
"Average Sales per Store Up 40%"
Revenue Expected to Grow This Year... "Competition Is Fierce"

# Four Chinese beverage brands are clustered within 1 km of Myeongdong Station, in Seoul's largest commercial district. Just 100 m from a subway station exit is a two-story Heytea milk tea shop. Turn into a back alley, and you'll find another milk tea shop, Chabaidao, on a corner. Auntea Jenny, another Chinese tea brand, operates a store 500 m from there. Go another 500 m, and you'll find Chagee, another tea brand, across from Seoul City Hall.

Stores in Seoul's Myeongdong operated by Chabaidao (clockwise from top left), Chagee, Heytea, and Auntea Jenny. Photo by Jeong Hyunjin

# Chinese food and beverage brands are also gathering in Seomyeon, Busan's largest commercial district. After Chabaidao opened stores in Seomyeon in April and July, Chinese hot pot brand Tentenlai opened its first store in South Korea at Lotte Department Store's Busan Main Branch on October 28. Tentenlai's main offering is individual hot pot, and it also sells meals such as mapo tofu rice, mapo tofu noodles, scallion oil noodles, and mala xiangguo. Four days after Tentenlai opened, Haidilao, China's No. 1 hot pot brand, also arrived in Seomyeon on November 1. The battle among Chinese hot pot brands is beginning in Seomyeon.

Chinese food and beverage brands are accelerating their expansion in South Korea. Having established a foothold mainly in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area, they are now spreading nationwide. With domestic demand slowing in mainland China, they appear to be seeking opportunities to expand globally from a base in South Korea's consumer-driven food and beverage market.

According to industry sources on November 2, Chabaidao will open a store on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju on November 6. It will be the brand's first store in the city. Chabaidao will thus become the second Chinese food and beverage franchise to open in Gyeongju, following the malatang brand Tang Huo Kung Fu. Since opening its first store in South Korea in January 2024, Chabaidao opened its first store outside the Seoul metropolitan area in Jeju in June 2025. Since opening a store in Busan in April 2026, it has continued to open stores across the country, including in Daegu, Jeonju, Ulsan, Suncheon, Gwangju, and Daejeon. Chabaidao currently operates around 50 stores.

Chabaidao is expected to accelerate its store openings in South Korea for the time being. According to Chinese media, including Xinhua News Agency, a representative of Chabaidao's Chinese headquarters recently told local media that the number of stores contracted in South Korea had exceeded 60, and that average sales per store this year were up 40% from the previous year. The representative emphasized that monthly sales at top-performing stores had reached as much as 1 million yuan (approximately KRW 200 million). The representative also said that more than 90% of customers visiting its stores in South Korea were Korean and that 80% of franchisees were opening additional stores, adding that the company would continue its large-scale expansion.

Chabaidao is not the only Chinese food and beverage brand expanding beyond the Seoul metropolitan area. Haidilao also opened its Seomyeon store in Busan on November 1. It is the brand's second store in Busan, following its Busan Station location. Haidilao, which had operated stores mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area, also opened a store in Daegu in December 2025. Haidilao currently operates 13 stores in South Korea, including the Seomyeon location, four of which are outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Tentenlai, considered a rival to Haidilao, chose Busan rather than the Seoul metropolitan area for its first store in South Korea.

In addition, Chinese grilled fish restaurant Bantiianyao Kaoyu opened a new company-operated store in Daejeon in June 2026.

As Chinese food and beverage brands accelerate their domestic operations this year, their financial performance is also expected to grow. Haidilao's revenue last year was KRW 117.7 billion, up 50.9% from the previous year. Its operating profit was KRW 20.2 billion, with an operating margin of 17.2%. Korea Tang Huo Kung Fu, which entered South Korea in 2013 and has operated here for more than 10 years, recorded revenue of KRW 25.5 billion last year, up 14.6% from the previous year. Its operating profit rose 5.0% to KRW 11.1 billion, and its operating margin was 43.5%. Tang Huo Kung Fu is said to operate around 500 stores.

Their expansion into South Korea is taking place alongside a slowdown in domestic demand in China. As growth becomes harder to achieve at home despite fierce competition in the food and beverage industry, amid a slowdown in the world's largest domestic market, South Korea's consumer-driven food and beverage market has become a target. The move appears to reflect the view that South Korea offers an opportunity for Chinese food and beverage franchises, given the purchasing power of Korean consumers and their interest in a diverse range of flavors. Expectations that establishing a foothold in South Korea could also have a positive ripple effect on business in other countries appear to be another factor.

[Photo = Haidilao's U.S. website]

An industry source said, "China's domestic market is reaching saturation, so companies are flocking to South Korea to expand. There are already many domestic brands, and competition is growing even fiercer as Chinese food and beverage companies join the fray with aggressive expansion." The source added, "The image of Chinese food and beverage brands has become more positive than in the past. They are making their store interiors, menu offerings, and marketing approaches more similar to those of domestic brands, making competition inevitable."

The influx of Chinese food and beverage brands into South Korea is expected to continue for the time being. Chagee, which began operating in South Korea in April with stores in Gangnam, Sinchon, and Yongsan in Seoul, has opened 11 stores this year. It plans to open one more by the end of the year and stores outside Seoul next year. Heytea, Auntea Jenny, and Mixue are also expanding their operations in South Korea. Luckin Coffee, China's largest coffee company, and Green Tea Restaurant, a Chinese home-style dining brand, are also seen as likely to enter the South Korean market.

Lee Eun-hee, a professor in the Department of Consumer Studies at Inha University, said, "The popularity of Chinese food and beverage brands stems less from interest in a particular country than from demand among Korean consumers for a diverse range of flavors and distinctive, exotic experiences." She added, "For domestic food and beverage franchises to remain competitive, they need to differentiate themselves in ways that offer consumers a fresh experience."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.