SEOUL, KOREA - Caffe Bene, a Korean specialty coffee shop chain, has acquired a bakery brand Mainz Dom. The two parties signed an agreement for Caffe Bene to acquire Mainz Dom’s retail outlets and production facilities in December 2012 and completed the deal in mid-January this year. The acquisition price is estimated at 3 billion won.
Caffe Bene had shown interest in the acquisition of Crown Bakery last year. Caffe Bene opted for “bread” as a new growth engine as the coffee shop chain market entered the phase of saturation.
The entry of Caffe Bene, which expanded its chain locations up to 890 within past five years, into the bakery market could pose a major threat to small mom-and-pop bakeries. Caffe Bene is expected to attempt to increase its bakery chains aggressively just as it did in the coffee market.
Caffe Bene, however, remains prudent about its launch into the bakery business as existing bakery chains have been under fire for their connections with chaebol groups and the negative impact on the survival of small bakeries.
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*Article provided by The Korea Economic Daily
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