“Dozens of customers ask for kimbap or lunch boxes every day. When the shelves are empty, they don’t buy anything else and just leave. Why do only franchise owners have to bleed because headquarters and drivers are fighting?”
A CU convenience store near a middle school in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, was quieter than usual on Monday afternoon. Students who came looking for triangle kimbap turned away empty-handed, and the store owner sighed as he spoke.
CU franchisees say they are facing mounting losses as a strike and blockades by the Cargo Truckers Solidarity CU branch, affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, have effectively halted deliveries of ready-to-eat foods, a key sales driver. The dispute has also raised broader concerns in the convenience store industry after a fatal accident involving a replacement truck during a rally near a logistics center.
Industry officials said the KCTU held a rally Monday in front of BGF Retail’s headquarters in Seoul’s Gangnam district, blaming the company and the government and vowing an all-out fight. The truckers’ union has been on an all-out strike since April 5, demanding better treatment for delivery drivers and blocking major logistics centers. From April 17, it also blocked a plant in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, that produces 150,000 ready-to-eat items a day.
The disruption has hit more than 3,000 CU stores nationwide. BGF Retail began operating an alternative logistics system and resumed ready-to-eat deliveries to some stores in the Seoul metropolitan area from Monday morning, but many outlets are still struggling with shortages, the industry said.
On Sunday, during a rally in front of CU’s Jinju logistics center, union members trying to stop trucks from leaving collided with a cargo truck, leaving one person dead and two injured. A BGF Retail official said the company offered “deep condolences” and was working to resolve the situation.
BGF Retail has said it has no reason to negotiate directly because delivery drivers sign individual contracts with outside transport companies. The union, citing the revised so-called Yellow Envelope Act, is demanding direct talks with BGF Retail as the principal company it says effectively controls the work.
Franchise owners say they are bearing the brunt. Ready-to-eat foods draw customers and drive add-on purchases, they said. The CU Franchise Owners Association said some stores have seen daily sales fall an average of 20% to 30% due to out-of-stocks, amounting to losses of 500,000 to 600,000 won per store each day.
Kim Mi-yeon, head of the CU Franchise Owners Association, said “about 30% of store sales have already disappeared” because of shortages and delayed deliveries. “Where in the Yellow Envelope Act does it say unrelated small business owners can be harmed?” she said. Kim has been holding a one-person protest in front of the National Assembly calling for the strike to end.
Industry watchers said they are closely monitoring the risk of a prolonged dispute and a domino effect. If CU, the market leader, recognizes employer responsibility and enters direct talks, it could ripple through logistics networks across other convenience stores, supermarkets and e-commerce, an industry official said. “The moment BGF backs down, strikes could spread like wildfire, so the entire sector is holding its breath,” the official said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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