Companies with a restaurant business accounting for more than 80 percent of sales such as Outback Steakhouse Korea, Nolbu NBG and Theborn Korea are likely to be exempted from recently announced restrictions to keep sizeable firms from hurting small diners.

Firms belonging to conglomerates with total assets of more than 5 trillion won ($4.6 billion) such as CJ Foodville, Lotteria and E-Land Park, however, will not be excused even if restaurants are their main business.

The National Commission for Corporate Partnership earlier this month advised 34 non-SMEs to refrain from opening new restaurants by adding eateries to the list of trades suitable only for small and medium enterprises.

The state-funded panel is now pushing to adopt a clause that will get Theborn, which runs Saemaeul Restaurants and Hanshin Pocha, as well as Nolbu and Outback off the hook. Most other medium-sized firms in the dining industry see less than 80 percent of their sales coming from it.

Industry observers criticize the commission’s plan as an attempt to merely avoid trade conflicts by unshackling foreign diners.

(sophie@heraldcorp.com)