Jay Lim, Global CEO and founder of GOPIZZA. /File Photo - QSR Media
GOPIZZA banks on tech commercialization for new revenue
This strategy could potentially increase their footprint to 70,000.
Retail partnerships are common in the QSR industry, but GOPIZZA has taken an unconventional approach by building compact pizzerias inside convenience stores.
In his speaking session during the QSR Media Conference & Awards 2024 powered by RedBull, Jay Lim, Global CEO of GOPIZZA said that aside from traditional franchising, the tech-enabled pizza brand is selling its machines as turnkey solutions to maximise its footprint and competitive advantage.
In terms of the cost of investment and time to get the AI systems for the toppings up and running, Lim said that it will cost around US$1.5k to US$2k to buy the product.
“And then you will have to subscribe to our service, ‘x number of dollars per month’ to use the service,” he added. “In terms of CapEx, It's nothing much. You just have to pay some small fee to maintain the service.”
Their first major client was CJ CGV, the largest cinema chain in Korea. With around 200 cinemas in South Korea, CJ CGV aims to sell pizza as fast as they sell popcorn.
In 2022, GOPIZZA opened 20 stores within CJ CGV cinemas, making CJ CGV one of their biggest franchisee and clients.
Whilst this partnership was momentous for the company, Lim believes that the bigger play lies in convenience stores in South Korea.
“There are 70,000 convenience stores in Korea, and the number one player is GS25, which is a conglomerate in Korea, and also our investor,” said Lim.
GS25 has 18,000 stores and has shown interest in expanding GoPizza’s presence if their pilot projects succeed, maybe opening up to 100 to 200 stores.
“And if you imagine the potential of these convenience store chains, gas stations, hotels, airports, cinemas, supermarkets. You know, we believe, within five years, maybe we can have 100,000 sales points,” said Jay.
Alongside with building brands through big stores, normal restaurant stores, and with more lineups, they call these ‘XGOPIZZA’ to become the cash cow of the business.
“And maybe it's a solution for extreme countries like Korea, and also a very effective way to go overseas,” he said. “So we think the robotic stores, it's a bit early now, but there’s no harm preparing.”
Aside from that, Lim said they are currently working to improve their pizza recipe to be able to launch it for delivery which he estimates will be done by the end of the year.
