무인카페 창업 비용According to industry sources on the 20th, Cafe Manwolgyeong, an unmanned cafe franchise, is expected to surpass 300 stores this year. Cafe Manwolgyeong started with 11 stores in 2021, its first year of establishment, and has 251 stores as of last year and 278 stores as of March this year. Its competitor, Daylong Cafe, also started with 17 stores in 2021 and has 210 stores last year and currently operates 270 stores. Both companies, which are leading unmanned cafes, have more than doubled their stores compared to the previous year. Unmanned cafes grew rapidly during COVID-19 as an alternative to social distancing and reducing labor costs. As high interest rates and high prices continued, the number of people doing side jobs to expand their income also increased significantly. According to the Statistics Korea announcement this month, the monthly average number of people doing side jobs in Korea last year was 575,000, an increase of 130,000 from three years ago. The headquarters of unmanned cafes are claiming relatively low startup costs compared to large cafe franchises. In the case of Cafe Manwolgyeong (based on 7 pyeong), the startup cost is approximately 54.3 million won. Daylong Cafe (under 8 pyeong, based on machine full payment) is approximately 65 million won. Daylong Cafe has been differentiating itself by adding an unmanned highball menu since March. It plans to expand its product line by adding menus such as pizza in the future.
The industry currently estimates that there are at least 1,000 unmanned cafes nationwide. An industry insider explained, “The number of branches of the top three brands in the industry, including Cafe Manwolgyeong, is over 600, and individual brand stores are continuously being created.” Recently, smart cafes with added robot equipment are also increasing. In fact, the number of stores of robot cafe franchise brand Beat, which features AI (artificial intelligence) robots, currently exceeds 200.
The related industry is growing in size through business agreements (MOUs) with robot companies or acquisitions of coffee machine companies. Cafe Manwolgyeong acquired Release Tech, a fully automatic coffee machine manufacturer, last month. In relation to this, it has set the direction of its future new business as an unmanned bakery cafe. It has also made plans to export its unmanned cafe model to Japan within the year.
“We are approaching this by reducing labor costs and investing in material costs,” said Kim Jin-young, head of Robros Design, who operates the robot cafe Bare Than Yours in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. “We are also considering a cafe with robots in the store, as it allows us to standardize flavors and save customized recipes for customers.”
It is noteworthy that it takes about two years of operation to recover the initial investment. This is because inquiries about transfers or closures are pouring in due to the rapid increase in unmanned cafes.
Experts advise that when starting an unmanned cafe, closely examine the needs of consumers and start the business. Jeong Yeon-seung, a professor of business administration at Dankook University, said, “We need to carefully consider whether consumers are looking for unmanned cafes because of the price and convenience or because of their emotional desire to spend quality time with others,” adding, “Since the consumption environment is rapidly changing due to the increase in online consumption, we need to start a business after confirming sustainability.” Copyright Herald Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
