Mega MGC Coffee opens in Cambodia with a Phnom Penh flagship
The Korean chain of 4,500 takeaway-sized shops has opened an 86-seat café on Koh Pich, its second country abroad. Four more are promised by December; the local partner is not named.
Mega MGC Coffee, the South Korean chain with more than 4,500 stores at home, opened its first café in Cambodia on 7 October, in the Koh Pich district of Phnom Penh. Cambodia is its second country outside Korea, after Mongolia, and the company says it will have five stores there by the end of the year.
The opening was announced on 8 October. According to Seoul Economic Daily and the Korean trade title Digital Daily, the Koh Pich branch is a single-storey standalone building on a plot of about 845 square metres, with 86 seats. The exterior borrows from the hanok, the traditional Korean house; the interior uses motifs taken from Cambodian weaving and local materials. Koh Pich, also called Diamond Island, is a riverside development of housing, offices and shops.
A sit-down flagship for a takeaway chain
A chain built on small takeaway shops goes abroad with 86 seats and its own plot.
That is not the format that built the brand. World Coffee Portal, which reports that the chain has overtaken Ediya Coffee in South Korea, describes its home network as small grab-and-go shops, and the Phnom Penh store as one designed for longer visits.
In Korea a hot americano costs 1,500 won. The Asia Business Daily, citing the franchise disclosure filed with the Fair Trade Commission, reported in September that average sales per franchised store had passed 400 million won for the first time, at 412.87 million.
The 4,500th Korean store opened at the start of October, eleven years after the first.
What Mega MGC Coffee has not said about Cambodia
The Cambodian business runs under a master franchise: a local partner holds the operating rights and pays royalties. Neither report names the partner. Nor do they give the menu prices in Phnom Penh, the investment or a sales target, so whether the volume model travels to a market with lower wages and an 86-seat room is not something the announcement answers.
Four more stores are due in the capital's main commercial districts before the end of December, with Toul Tom Poung among the areas under review. Kim Dae-young, chairman of the parent company MGC Global, said the chain would adapt to local culture and customer demand and work closely with its partner.
Abroad, Mega MGC Coffee is still small. Its first overseas store opened in Ulaanbaatar in May 2024; Mongolia now has 12, and Phnom Penh makes 13. Other Asian coffee chains are further along: Kopi Kenangan, whose founder has raised his stake ahead of a listing, trades in seven markets.
Thirteen stores abroad against 4,500 at home is a ratio, not yet a strategy. The first figure to check is whether Phnom Penh has five by 31 December.
