Mom's Touch opens two new stores in Mongolia

Mom's Touch opened two new stores in Mongolia this week amid the rising popularity of Korean culture.

The fifth Mom's Touch store in Mongolia [MOM'S TOUCH]

Mom’s Touch, a Korean burger chain, opened two new stores in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, increasing the total number of stores in the country to six, on the back of the rising popularity of Korean culture in the country.

Starting with the first store last April, the fast food chain plans to expand the number of stores in Mongolia to 20 by next year, Mom’s Touch said Friday.

Mom's Touch opened its fifth store on Sunday at the large shopping mall Go.to Market in the densely populated northern area of Ulaanbaatar.

That was quickly followed by a sixth store on Thursday, which has an area of 290 square meters (3121.5 square feet) and around 120 seats in the capital city's Metro Mall Department Store area.

Mom's Touch also plans to expand into other countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan within this year.

"Although Mongolia's GDP per capita is about 15 percent of Korea’s, the average monthly sales of the first to fourth stores in Mongolia exceed those in Korea, indicating a strong positive response from Mongolian customers; thus we started the franchise business earlier than planned," the company’s spokesman said.

Mongolia is considered a market with high growth potential for Korean companies due to the high proportion of young people and the solid influence of Korean culture.

Mom's Touch officially entered the Mongolian market in April in 2023 by signing a master franchise agreement with a local company.

It also currently operates six stores in Thailand and one in Japan.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]