Minor Food Takes Bonchon Beyond Thailand in Global Ownership Deal

Thailand’s Minor Food is moving from operating Bonchon in one market to owning the Korean fried-chicken brand across most of the world after agreeing with Serruya Private Equity to acquire Bonchon International from South Korean private equity firm VIG Partners and the Seo family.

The buyers will divide the business geographically. Minor Food, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed Minor International, will own Bonchon’s brand and operations outside the Americas. Toronto-based Serruya Private Equity will own and operate the business across North, Central and South America.

The transaction is expected to close in August. The total purchase price has not been disclosed, although Minor said its net investment would be $50 Mn.

Minor’s interest in Bonchon goes beyond the restaurant count. Franchisees pay royalties to the brand and also purchase its proprietary sauces, both of which produce recurring income for the business. Bonchon owns the plant where those sauces are made, and the facility can add capacity as the restaurant network expands.

Bonchon opened its first restaurant in Busan in 2002 and reached the US market four years later. The chain has since grown to about 500 restaurants, with seven of its nine key markets in ASEAN: Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Taiwan and the US are the other two, and most of Bonchon’s revenue now comes from outside South Korea.

Minor said the acquisition would be immediately accretive to earnings and advance its asset-light strategy. Its latest results illustrate the appeal of adding franchise income. Minor Food’s core restaurant revenue rose 6% YOY to THB 8.55 Bn in the second quarter of 2026, while franchise fees climbed 23% to THB 461 Mn.

At the end of June, Minor had 2,779 restaurants in operation, including 1,339 franchised outlets, or 48% of the network. The figure rises to 2,843 when signed franchise agreements are included. Bonchon accounted for 133 restaurants in the operating portfolio, up 13 from a year earlier. In Thailand, Bonchon, Dairy Queen and Swensen’s helped same-store sales return to growth during the quarter.

Minor’s familiarity with Bonchon goes beyond a conventional franchise agreement. In 2019, the group acquired Chicken Time, which operated more than 40 Bonchon restaurants in Thailand, and secured the Thai master-franchise rights by acquiring Spoonful the following year. In 2023, Minor acquired another 21% of Bonchon Thailand. Upon completion, the latest transaction will take that relationship beyond Thailand, giving Minor ownership of Bonchon’s brand and operations outside the Americas.

“We already know it well as its operator in Thailand,” Dellen Soh, group chief executive of Minor Food, said in the acquisition announcement. Soh said the company would support Bonchon’s existing franchisees while investing in expansion across current and new markets.

The deal repeats a route Minor has taken before. After operating Sizzler as a franchisee for more than three decades, the group acquired the brand’s international franchisor in 2023, gaining control of its intellectual property worldwide except in the US, Puerto Rico and Guatemala. The Bonchon deal similarly converts market-level operating experience into ownership of brand rights, royalties and franchise relationships across a much larger territory.

For the Americas, the deal pairs Minor with a partner it has known for more than three decades. Family-owned Serruya holds the rights to Swensen’s, which Minor operates in Thailand and elsewhere in the region. Serruya plans to build on Bonchon’s existing US operation, expand further in markets the chain already serves and target Canada, Mexico and Chile. Its current and previous food and beverage investments include Pinkberry, Yogen Früz, Cold Stone Creamery, Marble Slab Creamery and Pretzelmaker.

Investor appetite for Asian-origin restaurant franchises has been building, and Bain Capital’s move earlier this month to buy bubble-tea chain Gong cha from TA Associates and its co-investors fits that pattern. The capital-light chain runs close to 2,200 stores across 33 markets. Financial terms were not disclosed, although Reuters had put a possible price tag of up to $2 Bn on Gong cha while the sale was underway.

That appetite for franchise-led growth was also evident in 2024, when Philippine restaurant group Jollibee Foods acquired a 70% interest in South Korea’s Compose Coffee for $238 Mn. The transaction valued the fully franchised chain at about $340 Mn and added more than 2,400 stores to Jollibee’s international network, Reuters reported.

Bonchon has a smaller outlet footprint but offers the same underlying proposition: a consumer brand that can expand through franchise capital while its owner collects royalties and controls parts of the supply chain.

Bonchon’s proposed ownership structure sets it apart from those earlier deals. Bain has agreed to acquire Gong cha, while Jollibee took a controlling interest in Compose Coffee. Bonchon, by contrast, will be divided geographically between Minor and Serruya.

For Minor, the test is no longer whether Bonchon works in Thailand. It is whether the knowledge gathered as a franchisee can be converted into international brand ownership and growth across Bonchon’s existing and new markets.