Burger King penalized for forced sales of cleaning products, tomatoes

BKR, the operator of Burger King’s Korean business, was slapped with 300 million won ($220,000) fine for forcing its franchisees to purchase specific cleaning products and tomatoes from designated suppliers, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Wednesday. The company had ordered its franchisees to buy 15 types of cleaners and tomatoes from its headquarters-designated suppliers since 2013. BKR did not properly inform franchise owners that using “unapproved” items could result in penalties, according to the latest investigation from the antitrust watchdog. The cleaning products and tomatoes were introduced as “recommended” items that franchise owners could independently purchase from other suppliers as long as they met the firm’s internal standards. However, BKR ultimately forced them to use cleaning products from a specific U.S. brand and tomatoes from its internally approved domestic suppliers. The items were only available through BKR’s internal purchasing system, the investigation found. BKR conducted inspections to monitor whether each franchisee used the designated prodWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times