Major fast-food franchise company Mom’s Touch will open its first restaurant in Uzbekistan, launching its bid to expand its market to countries in Central Asia and Middle East, the company said Monday.
Mom’s Touch CEO Kim Dong-jeon on Friday signed a master franchise contract with One Food CEO Khodjaev Zafar Zalulovich for the brand’s operation rights in Tashkent. One Food is a food and beverage company that Uzbek logistics company UHL has established for the contract. The signing took place at the headquarters of Mom’s Touch and Company, the Korean brand’s holding company, in Seoul’s Jung District.
Under the deal, One Food will open its first Mom’s Touch restaurant in the Uzbek capital this year and eventually grow the restaurant's number to 60 across the country. The figure is double the number of KFC restaurants, which currently dominate the city’s fast-food fried chicken and burger market, according to Mom’s Touch.
The Korean fried chicken company, which also sells burgers and pizza, said the franchise agreement is the beginning of its market expansion to Central Asian nations, including Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Russia and halal markets in Middle East nations.
Zalulovich said fast-food customers in Uzbekistan do not enjoy fried chicken as much as Koreans so that food item alone would not raise enough sales. The CEO, who previously worked for a logistics company in Korea and became familiar with Korean foods, said he was looking for a Korean brand that sells more than fried chicken and burgers. After studying major fast-food restaurant brands in Korea, he saw Mom’s Touch as the most competitive option, he added.
Mom’s Touch said its specialty in fried chicken fuels its market prospects in the Uzbek market where 88 percent of consumers are Muslims and avoid pork consumption.
“Our latest deal is the first case a Korean fast-food company debuts in a Central Asian nation through a master franchise deal instead of direct management,” a Mom’s Touch official said.
Mom’s Touch, currently running the largest number of restaurants among Korea’s fast-food chains with 1,460, previously expanded its global markets to Thailand, Mongolia, Japan and Laos.
