 | | ▲CEO Sam-Ho Shon |
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To most Koreans, modernization has often meant westernization and coffee has always been considered as a symbol of being “westernized.” For coffee drinkers, coffee has given Koreans something to put them in “the mood”, which is not only elegant and sophisticated, but also gives excitement. Only a decade ago, finding real coffee in Korea was a challenge because most people drank instant coffee, usually from pre-mixed packets. However, Korea’s now craving for coffee and has made Korea one of the major importers of coffee in the world. The Korean coffee market is matured and also saturated with fierce competition.
The fast changing market demand and competition has created the perfect circumstances for many companies in which they aim to satisfy their consumers. Among the Korean coffee companies, KAFFA Co., LTD. has been one of the dominant coffee market players in Korea with roughly 50% of the market shares in supplying products for coffee drinks such as chocolate powder, sauce, syrup, etc. KAFFA’s CEO Sam-Ho Shon had worked as a launching member of Starbucks Korea in the 90’s and saw the growing potential of the Korean coffee market.
Instead of starting a coffee franchise as many of his colleagues, he saw his opportunities in providing coffee supplies. “KAFFA has become a total coffee supplies company that specializes not only for the base of beverages such as flavored syrup, sauce, smoothie, power and roasted coffees, but also café equipment over the past decade with high customer satisfaction.”, said Shon.
Although instant coffee still continues to drive the market, the rise of coffee houses is starting to push more and more consumers towards high quality coffee. With the phenomenal growth of recent years and the maturation of the market, it is expected that premium coffee will lead the future growth. The rise of roasting cafés are proof of this changing trend. While in the past, most places brought in beans that were already roasted, a few coffee shops started buying green beans and roasting them in the shop. This not only creates a lovely aroma that permeates the cafe, but allows customers to enjoy the benefits of the freshly roasted, higher quality coffees. Shon also stated, “The sooner it’s consumed, the better. That is why we launch our “Forte” brand coffee, which is fresher than other coffee beans on the market. Also, we recently introduced the capsule coffees to deliver the richer taste of premium coffee. KAFFA Co. is not only trying our best effort to provide the best quality products to our customers, but we also want to spread the best “coffee culture” through our barista academies.”
KAFFA CO., LTD.
CEO Sam-Ho Shon
www.kaffa.com
Int’l. 82.2.3453.1535
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