Global South Korean food chain Nene Chicken is set to open its first New Zealand store next month as the K-Fry competition heats up.

Nene Chicken general manager Marcus Teh told the Herald it’s “crunch time” for the business ahead of the chain’s opening on Auckland’s Queen St on September 8.

Australian-based ST Group, which already operates Japanese restaurant Ippudo, bubble tea retailer Gong Cha and Malaysian Papparich around the country, holds the exclusive franchise and license rights to Nene Chicken.

The company plans to invest over $15 million to open 18 stores around NZ, expecting to employ 275 workers and generate $75m in annual revenue by 2028.

Teh said the company already has interest from franchisees around the country, including in Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch.

He added that Nene Chicken is eyeing larger malls around Auckland, including Sylvia Park, Westfield Newmarket and Botany Town Centre.

“We will slowly expand to Albany, northwest, eastern and western suburbs, [and] southern suburbs like Manukau,” Teh said.

Nene Chicken's Queen St store.

Teh said the Kiwi launch had been delayed by the pandemic, which made the company “step back” to continue supporting existing ST Group businesses in New Zealand.

 “In New Zealand, people love chicken,” Teh said. “Korean fried chicken is very unique.”

“I wouldn’t want to say KFC is our direct competition because they are a big fast-food chain. But our price point can be competitive enough to compete with KFC.”

Yesterday, the Herald reported KFC owner Restaurant Brands took an 86 per cent hit in its half-year profits, citing poor trading and increased production costs at KFC outlets around NZ as a major pain point.

Teh said Nene stands out from its Kiwi Korean fried chicken counterparts like Kokodak and My Fried Chicken.

“Nene is very unique because we have 10 flavours in Australia,” he said.

Although Kiwis won’t get to try all 10 flavours next month, Teh said the company will launch favourites like Bulgogi, Freaking Hot and Swicy.

Nene Chicken, which translates to ‘Yes Yes Chicken’ and was founded in South Korea in 1999, has more than 1,100 stores worldwide, including in the USA, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia.

The company hasn’t been immune to supply chain pressures, as Kiwi chicken supplier Tegel told Teh it is facing labour shortages and increasing chicken feed prices due to the war in Ukraine.

“Resources in NZ are not as available as they are in Australia. Chicken suppliers would already be focusing on KFC and other chicken retailers, so we would be second in line,” Teh said.

When asked about Nene’s Queen St location, Teh said ST Group’s existing locations like Gong Cha have been impacted significantly since the pandemic, but business looks to be picking up.

 “We think that in another three months, things will come back to pre-Covid levels. But people whose offices have moved out of the city won’t be coming back any time soon.”

He said his drop in customers meant the company had a 40 per cent drop in sales from compared to 2019.

“Sales are still down about 20 per cent, but outside of the city, we’re doing better. It means people just moved out of the city during Covid,” Teh said.

ST Group’s chairman and the chain’s Korean chairman are both planning to attend the Queen St launch.