[Edaily Reporter Kim Ji-woo ] When you order a set menu, you get an extra burger and a chance to enter a drawing to attend a fan meeting with a popular celebrity. These are incentives introduced by franchise chains to attract customers to their own ordering apps rather than delivery platforms. In addition to increasing discounts and loyalty rewards available exclusively through their own apps, they are encouraging repeat orders with coupons tailored to purchase history and interactive events. This strategy aims to reduce the burden of delivery platform commission fees on franchisees while allowing the corporate headquarters to directly collect customer data.

According to industry sources on the 17th, BBQ Chicken—operated by Genesis BBQ—runs promotions such as “Black Friday,” which offers a 4,000-won discount on two signature chicken items every Friday via its app, and “All-Day Takeout Discount” for customers placing takeout orders. It also provides benefits based on membership tiers and gives all members celebrating their birthdays a 4,000-won discount coupon.

KYOCHON FOOD&BEVERAGE(339770)Kyochon Chicken, operated by Dining Brands Group, also revamped its ordering app and membership system last month to allow customers to earn points equivalent to up to 5% of their purchase amount, depending on their membership tier. Recently, the brand has been selling a set menu exclusively through its app that allows customers to enter a raffle for tickets to a fan meeting with its brand ambassador, actor Byun Woo-seok. This strategy aims to broaden customer engagement by combining price discounts with benefits tailored to the brand’s fan base.

Dining Brands Group’s BHC Chicken offers a 10% discount and a 1,000-won stackable coupon for takeout orders placed through its app. It operates the app-exclusive “Cheer Up Set” and “Ppuring Quenchy,” a stamp-collection promotion. It also provides separate coupon packs to new subscribers and customers who haven’t made a purchase in a long time.

No Brand Burger, operated by SHINSEGAE FOOD, runs a regular event called “Wapemo Day” through its app. Customers who order from the weekly rotating event menu receive a free item of the same kind. This is an app-exclusive benefit that does not apply to orders placed via delivery apps or in-store purchases.

Number of App Subscribers Soaring The number

of subscribers to food and beverage franchise

apps

is also growing. Kyochon Chicken, which launched its app in 2019, saw its cumulative subscriber base rise from 5.31 million in 2023 to 7.1 million last year. Currently, the number stands at approximately 8 million, with sales through the ordering app accounting for about 13% of total revenue.

BHC introduced a membership system for the first time alongside its existing non-member ordering method when it revamped its app as the “New BHC App” in February of last year. It reached 1.5 million cumulative subscribers in September of the same year, surpassed 2 million in January of this year, and currently has about 2.9 million subscribers. In the year following the app revamp, the cumulative number of orders reached approximately 2.8 million.

There are also cases where exclusive benefits have led to increased orders. According to BHC, a “Double Benefits” promotion held in April of this year—which offered a 10% discount and a 1,000-won stackable coupon on takeout orders of 20,000 won or more placed through the company’s app—resulted in a 24% increase in takeout orders compared to the same period in the previous month before the promotion began. The “Ppuring Quenchy Challenge,” which ran from late December of last year through August of this year, recorded approximately 382,000 cumulative participants and about 507,000 entries.

BBQ, which has now surpassed 5 million cumulative subscribers, also found that large-scale promotions—exclusively available through its own app—served as a catalyst for increasing app users. The number of subscribers, which stood at around 300,000 during the app’s initial launch, surged to approximately 2.6 million in just one month following a 7,000-won discount promotion for “Golden Olive Chicken” tied to the 2020 YouTube series “Negotiation King.” At the time, the headquarters covered the full cost of the discount.

The Real Reason

Behind

the Focus on Proprietary Apps

There are two main reasons why franchise headquarters are steering customers toward their proprietary apps. First, it’s to address the long-standing issue of high delivery platform commission fees. Assuming a commission of approximately 2,000 won per order, converting 50 daily orders to the proprietary app can save about 100,000 won per day, or roughly 3 million won per month. The costs saved through the proprietary app can then be used by franchisees to secure profits or hire additional staff during peak hours.

Another reason is customer data. Industry experts say that by analyzing not only age and gender but also order times, preferred menu items, and purchase frequency, franchisees can offer tailored benefits to individual customers. This includes gauging consumer reactions after new product launches and analyzing popular menu items by time of day and region to inform store operations and marketing. Furthermore, they explain that suggestions and complaints received through the proprietary app are incorporated into product improvements.

However, the cost burden of discounts and coupons designed to encourage app usage remains a challenge. This is because the costs of such promotions are shared between the franchisor and the franchisees. The key challenge is whether it is possible to create a structure where subscribers acquired through exclusive benefits are converted into repeat customers, while still ensuring that franchisees turn a profit even after accounting for the discount costs.

An industry insider noted, “Compared to comprehensive delivery platforms where users can redeem points and benefits across multiple brands, proprietary apps have the limitation of a narrower scope of use,” adding, “However, there is a trend toward continued investment in app development, server operations, and feature improvements.”