Workers at Kia’s plant in Monterrey, Mexico line up to use the in-house café operated locally by Hyundai Greenfood. Photo courtesy of Hyundai Greenfood
[[B1]] Hyundai Green Food is bringing workplace cafes to its overseas food-service sites. After pairing corporate cafeterias with in-house cafes proved to be a steady new revenue stream at home, the company is exporting the model to grow both contract wins and sales abroad.
[[B2]] The company opened a workplace cafe last month at a Korean auto-parts supplier’s plant inside the Kia factory complex in Monterrey, Mexico, according to industry sources on the 19th. It is the first time Hyundai Green Food has operated a workplace cafe at an overseas food-service site.
[[B3]] Hyundai Green Food entered the local food-service market in 2016 when it took over the cafeteria at the Monterrey Kia plant. The cafe opened this time at a separate site it recently won a contract to serve. The menu features seven coffee drinks, four non-coffee beverages and two types of cheese and chocolate cake. About 200 cups are sold a day, and roughly one in three plant workers is said to visit the cafe daily. Considering local tastes for sweeter flavors, the company is looking at adding menu items popular at home, such as brown-sugar lattes and smoothies.
[[B4]] The move is significant in extending the “cafeteria-plus-cafe” model proven at home to overseas sites. As companies look after employee benefits and convenience, in-house cafes have emerged as a factor that can determine site contract wins. Of the food-service sites Hyundai Green Food has won over the past five years, 35% also operate an in-house cafe.
[[B5]] In terms of profit, in-house cafes account for a meaningful share. A culture of adding a drink after a meal has taken hold, and usage is high because the cafes are near the cafeterias and prices are affordable. The industry estimates that running a cafeteria and an in-house cafe together raises a site’s sales by about 15%. Samsung Welstory and Aramark Korea have likewise expanded their service range by introducing in-house cafes at food-service sites at home and abroad.
[[B6]] Hyundai Green Food plans to introduce in-house cafes at its other overseas sites in stages. It intends to apply Cafe Greeting — the integrated brand it is building at home — abroad, creating a setup that offers meals, drinks and desserts in one place. The company is gradually rebranding its roughly 140 domestic in-house cafes as Cafe Greeting, with a goal of expanding to more than 180 within three years.
[[B7]] “Running a cafeteria and an in-house cafe together is a proven model that has raised employee satisfaction at home, so we will add menus tailored to local tastes and our operating know-how to show the competitiveness of K-food-service abroad as well,” a Hyundai Green Food official said. “Using this first case as a springboard, we will build up expertise in developing K-beverages and localizing menus, and expand the number of overseas sites that also run an in-house cafe.”