The London Bagel Museum, a bagel specialty store popular among the MZ generation, recorded sales reaching 80 billion won last year. The operating profit margin exceeded 30%.
The London Bagel Museum (corporate name: LBM) announced on the 9th through its first audit report that it recorded sales of 79.6 billion won and an operating profit of 24.3 billion won. Compared to the unaudited financial statements from the previous year, sales and operating profit increased by 120.9% and 91.7%, respectively.
The operating profit margin reached 30.5%. It is even higher compared to the operating profit margin of 25% for Seongshim Bakery, a representative bakery in the country.
In the dining industry, the London Bagel Museum is evaluated as the starting point of the bagel trend in Korea. Beginning with the opening of its Anguk flagship store in September 2021, this brand introduced a variety of bagel menus that differentiated it from others and gained immense popularity by stimulating the travel sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic when overseas travel was difficult. It attracted attention enough to have more than 500 people waiting in line, and it was selected as the store with the longest waitlist for two consecutive years, 2023 and 2024, on the restaurant reservation platform Catch Table.
Currently, it has changed its corporate name to LBM and operates six stores. Major shareholder Lee Sang-yeop holds 46% as an initial investor, while Directors Kim Dong-jun and Kang Kwan-gu hold 29% and 10% equity, respectively. Chief Brand Officer Lee Hyo-jung, who created the brand, holds 15% equity.
Earlier this year, rumors spread in the industry that the London Bagel Museum was considering selling for a corporate value of about 300 billion won; however, the company clarified, saying, "We are currently in the stage of attracting new investment for overseas expansion and are not pursuing a sale."