The Venti signs third major global franchise deal in a year

The Venti signed a Southeast Asia master franchise deal on June 29, giving the South Korean value chain its third major international franchise pact in 12 months and its fifth overseas agreement overall. The move keeps the brand on a fast track well beyond Busan and puts its low-price coffee model into one of the busiest growth lanes in branded café retail.

The chain says it launched in Busan in March 2014 and that 2026 marks its 12th year. It now says it has about 1,600 franchise stores, and its pitch has stayed bluntly practical: “good coffee” at an affordable price. That formula has helped The Venti build scale at home while relying on master franchise partners abroad, a capital-light structure that lets local operators handle execution while the brand pushes into new markets.

The timing matters because the regional market is still expanding quickly. World Coffee Portal’s East Asia research showed the branded coffee shop market grew 18.4% over the last 12 months to 180,268 outlets, with Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines all posting double-digit outlet growth. In that kind of environment, a chain built around value, speed and customisable drinks is not just chasing volume, it is aiming at consumers who still buy coffee often but are more careful about price than they were before inflation squeezed household budgets.

The Southeast Asia deal follows a run of overseas moves that map out the company’s playbook. The Venti made its international debut in Canada in February 2025, then opened in Vietnam with a Ho Chi Minh City outlet on June 30, 2025, and said Vietnam would serve as a launchpad for expansion across Southeast Asia. It signed its first Middle East franchise deal with JKT Networks on July 14, 2025, later opening its first Middle East store in Amman on February 3, 2026. In Jordan, the company said it had weighed the region’s geopolitical characteristics and market potential and planned to localize its menu, operations, language and channel strategy.

The U.S. is in the mix too. The Venti signed a multi-unit franchise deal for a Las Vegas launch on November 17, 2025, with JINP LLC director Daixi Li and CEO Choi Jun-kyung present at the signing. Taken together, the deals show a chain trying to export a Korean café formula market by market, and if it keeps landing partners at this pace, premium players across Asia will have to defend not just their coffee, but the price attached to it.