Mom's Touch to Open 50 Restaurants in Kazakhstan with Shin-Line
South Korean chain Mom's Touch and Shin-Line Group will open at least 50 restaurants in Kazakhstan over a decade. The first will open in the first half of 2027.
South Korean chain Mom's Touch has committed to opening at least 50 restaurants in Kazakhstan over the next decade. The Korea Herald reported this, citing the company. The partner is Kazakh food conglomerate Shin-Line Group — a major player that seems an unlikely fit for the restaurant business only at first glance.
How the Deal Is Structured
A master franchise agreement (a form under which the partner gains the right to develop the network across the entire country) has been signed with Shin-Line's restaurant subsidiary, Mom's Touch Central Asia LLP. The document also covers neighboring Kyrgyzstan. The company announced this on October 26.
The first restaurant in Kazakhstan will open in the first half of 2027. The chain intends to enter major cities, including Astana, and turn Kazakhstan into a regional hub. A Mom's Touch representative said the country will become "a key base for operations in Central Asia."
The decision followed Mom's Touch's entry into the Uzbekistan market in 2025 under a franchise agreement. Central Asia, it seems, has become a new frontier of expansion for the Koreans.
Who the Partner Is
Shin-Line controls more than 40% of the Central Asian ice cream market and is considered the region's largest producer. The group operates a logistics network spanning 11 countries.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- 37,000 tons of products manufactured in 2025;
- 16 branches and 100 distributors;
- around 130,000 points of sale;
- 40% of output (approximately 15,000 tons) went to export in 2025.
Shin-Line's products are supplied to Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The group's business is not limited to ice cream. Since 2009, it has produced frozen semi-finished foods, and since 2012, instant noodles. In 2024, Shin-Line began developing a network of CU mini-markets in Kazakhstan under a South Korean brand: more than 70 stores are open today, mostly in Almaty.
What Will Be on the Menu
Mom's Touch will bring its signature chicken burgers made from whole chicken thigh fillets to Kazakhstan, along with fried chicken and pizza. The bet on chicken makes arithmetical sense: about 70% of Kazakhstan's population is Muslim, and meat dishes are widely consumed in the country.
What This Changes for the Market
The practical question: what does the deal change for Kazakhstan's food service industry? A third serious foreign player with a proven chicken burger model and a partner that already controls logistics across eleven countries is entering the scene. Local chains and independent restaurateurs in the fast food segment will have to compete with a combination of a Korean brand and Kazakh distribution. For consumers — more choice and, likely, a price war.
Fifty locations in a decade is a moderate pace. But given Shin-Line's logistics infrastructure, the plans look not like a declaration but like a working schedule.
Original: koreaherald.com
More from Артём Пасечник
157 articles