The harvest of Starlight Coffee began to explode. By hiring a large number of people and starting to create farmland, the yield started to show remarkable growth. Since the crops, which came from one body anyway, just needed to be roughly scattered on the ground to grow like crazy, there was no need to worry much about pests or disasters.
Just a bit of fertilizer would do the trick? As a result, Starlight Coffee now had enough quantity to move beyond the beverage market and target other markets.
Naturally, the next target was the coffee franchise market. In Korea, you couldn’t just ignore the café scene. It was a market that sold a lot of coffee, right?
Of course, just because a coffee franchise had incredibly good coffee didn’t mean it could dominate the market. Sure, if the taste was mind-blowingly good, it might take the top spot, but…
First, consumers tended to scrutinize how well the store’s interior was designed. Psychologically, they preferred bright and flashy atmospheres over shabby ones. The time it took for the coffee to come out was also important, as well as the friendliness of the staff and how well the headquarters’ cooperative network functioned… All these factors combined determined a café’s sales.
A café couldn’t succeed just by doing one thing well. It had to maintain a top-tier level in multiple areas.
But Starlight Coffee Beans could somewhat ignore these factors. In terms of taste and aroma, they were different from the coffee beans used by typical franchises. Of course, the desire to release the beans directly into the market was burning strong.
However, the idea of supplying beans to Starbucks, Korea’s top-performing coffee franchise, was abandoned. Starbucks was already the leading company, and there was no reason for them to take a risk by using Starlight Coffee Beans. Plus, Starbucks was a foreign company. They had no reason to use Korean coffee beans.
So, Kim Sehee planned to propose to Idaya whether they’d consider using Starlight Coffee Beans.
Of course, Starbucks’ brand power was unmatched by all Korean coffee franchises combined. In fact, Starbucks’ annual sales alone surpassed the combined sales of the top 10 Korean coffee franchises. When Starbucks’ sales were heading toward 3 trillion won, the combined sales of all other franchises didn’t even reach 2 trillion won.
That’s how big the gap was between the top player and the rest in the coffee franchise market.
—
Kim Sehee met with Idaya’s Director Moon Ji-seop.
Moon Ji-seop was puzzled when he heard that Starlight Food had called for him. While Starlight Coffee Beans were doing well, they hadn’t yet entered the coffee franchise market.
“Thank you for coming. I’ve really wanted to meet you, and it’s an honor to finally do so.”
Kim Sehee took a humble approach. To enter the market, this level of courtesy was necessary. Even though Starlight Coffee Beans were good, they were still an unproven entity in the franchise world. Coffee beverages and cafés were different beasts.
“Not at all. It’s my honor to meet the CEO of Starlight Food, which is doing so well these days.”
After some casual conversation, Kim Sehee subtly but directly brought up her main agenda.
“I’d like to supply Idaya with Starlight Coffee Beans.”
“Hmm…”
Director Moon Ji-seop was caught off guard by Kim Sehee’s sudden proposal. While he had expected some talk about coffee beans, he was still surprised by the boldness of her offer.
He had heard that Starlight Coffee beverages were doing well, but they hadn’t yet proven themselves in the franchise market. Plus, they hadn’t had the volume to expand before.
“I didn’t know Starlight Food had such a large coffee farm…”
Even if Idaya wasn’t Korea’s top coffee brand, the amount of coffee beans consumed domestically was staggering. The 3,000 franchise stores consumed over 1,000 tons of beans annually.
Considering the size of Korea’s farms, it was an unimaginable amount. Frankly, he had never even heard of coffee being grown in Korea. Korea wasn’t exactly a coffee-growing country…
It wasn’t the future.
Who knows what will happen if global warming causes temperatures to rise in the future, but for now, it wasn’t the case.
“How about having a cup first and then thinking about it?”
Kim Sehee used the very useful strategy of “Eat first, think later!” The Starlight Coffee Beans had a flavor and aroma that even the most demanding gourmets would find satisfying.
As Kim Sehee spoke, the barista waiting nearby began roasting the coffee beans. Director Moon Ji-seop, who usually declined such offers, had sat through countless solicitations and proposals beyond imagination.
The stern expression on Director Moon Ji-seop’s face soon softened. It was because of the aroma of the coffee beans filling the room. He could confidently say that even the highest quality coffee beans from the headquarters wouldn’t produce such a delightful fragrance.
He couldn’t even remember how much coffee he had drunk to get to this position. Without a certain level of confidence, one wouldn’t dare to roast coffee right in front of someone like this. Kim Sehee had tried this because she believed in the taste of her coffee beans; without them, she wouldn’t have dared.
A beautifully colored Americano was placed in front of Director Moon Ji-seop.
“The color is excellent.”
Director Moon Ji-seop slowly lifted the cup and took a sip. Kim Sehee watched nervously. No matter how confident she was, it would be useless if the other person didn’t like it. But when she saw Director Moon Ji-seop smile softly after tasting the coffee, she couldn’t help but cheer inwardly.
“If the boss hadn’t found me first, I would have been disappointed.”
Hearing that, Kim Sehee couldn’t help but smile. It was a great success.
—
Of course, it wasn’t possible to switch all of Idaya’s franchises to Starlight Coffee Beans overnight. Reality wasn’t like a game.
“I wish we could introduce it to all franchises nationwide right away…”
Contrary to Director Moon Ji-seop’s wishes, they still had to convince the management, and there were existing contracts with other coffee farms. There was a lot to overcome. But despite the risks and effort, Starlight Coffee Beans would bring even greater rewards.
Unfortunately, it was impossible for all franchises nationwide to use only Starlight Coffee Beans. They had to consider the production volume, and if there was only one supplier, a poor harvest at Starlight Coffee Farm could pose a massive risk.
As the saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Risk diversification was essential in modern society. However, Director Moon Ji-seop smiled brightly and said to Kim Sehee,
“We’ll start using Starlight Coffee Beans in the cafes with the highest foot traffic. Word of mouth needs to spread first to make it easier to convince the management.”
The contract price was already cheaper than the imported coffee beans. Coffee beans coming from overseas couldn’t help but be more expensive than domestically produced ones. Whether it was price or taste, there was no downside, so it was only a matter of time before Idaya’s franchises would be filled with Starlight Coffee Beans.
Although they couldn’t secure an exclusive contract, the low price meant Idaya would have a strong competitive edge when other coffee franchises eventually adopted Starlight Coffee Beans. According to CEO Kim Sehee, Idaya was a special case, and other franchises would be charged a higher price.
It was also part of the contract. They had secured enough time before other coffee franchises could start using Starlight Coffee Beans.
In Director Moon Ji-seop’s mind, a vivid image of Idaya catching up to Starbucks was forming.
