Eland Eats pulls franchise program for bakery brand Frangjerie

Eland Eats has halted the franchise program for its in-house bakery brand Frangjerie, shifting slower-growing labels to a company-operated model and concentrating resources on flagship brands such as Ashley Queens.

According to industry sources Wednesday, Eland Eats last month voluntarily canceled its franchise disclosure registration for Frangjerie. Filing a franchise disclosure document is a mandatory step for operating a franchise business in South Korea, and canceling the registration is in effect equivalent to shutting down the franchise program.

Frangjerie traces its roots to a bakery called Pain de France, launched in 2004. The brand was relaunched in 2015 under the Frangjerie name, positioning itself as a French-style traditional bakery. In recent years it has expanded primarily through the company's own retail channels, including NC Department Store and NewCore Outlet locations.

As of last month, Frangjerie operated five company-run stores — in Sinchon, NewCore Outlet Gangnam, NC Gangseo, NewCore Outlet Pyeongchon and Daegu E-World — along with one franchised location at Homeplus Chilgok. The franchised store had been operating under that arrangement from the outset. One of the company-run stores serves as a welfare store inside Eland's Magok Global R&D Center.

"This is a measure taken because we have no plans to open additional franchise locations," an Eland Eats official said. "We have reorganized to focus on existing stores and company-operated outlets." The company plans to continue expanding its directly managed locations, with a new company-run store at AK Plaza Bundang set to open later this month.

Eland Eats has been restructuring brands with stagnant growth around a company-operated model. In May, it also canceled franchise programs for Rimini, an Italian dining brand, and Asiamoon, an Asian dining brand. Other food and beverage brands — including The Cafe, Lugo, Steakus, Teru, Bangung and Percheno — still have active franchise disclosure registrations, though they too could eventually transition to a company-run format.

The same logic drove the company's review last year of potential sales of underperforming non-core brands. The brands under consideration at the time included six dining labels — Bangung, Steakus, Teru, Teppanyaki Daguo, Asiamoon and Huwon — and three cafe brands: The Cafe, Cafe Lugo and Percheno.

An Eland Eats official said the potential divestitures are not being actively pursued as a top priority. "We plan to assess the appropriate direction for each brand by comprehensively reviewing market conditions, brand competitiveness and operational efficiency," the official said.

Eland Eats continues to expand around its flagship buffet brand Ashley Queens, which now operates 125 stores nationwide. The company has been tailoring its operating model to local demand, rolling out premium "Grand" locations alongside "Grill & Beer" stores that offer lower prices and unlimited beer. Ashley Queens is targeting annual sales of 800 billion won ($559 million) this year and aims to surpass 150 stores nationwide before year-end.