Gwihanjokbal claimed 16 new stores in two months — one actually opened

Gwihanjokbal is a South Korean franchise brand selling jokbal (braised pig's trotters). Its franchisor, Gwihan Saramdeul, ran a startup-consultation homepage aimed at prospective franchisees. From April to July 2022 the homepage advertised that '16 stores opened in May–June'. In reality one store — the Yeoksam branch — opened in that two-month window. Of the other fifteen claimed stores, seven opened at different times, and eight had not opened at all by December 2023.

The franchisor also hid the economic benefits it received from suppliers, which franchise disclosure law exists to reveal. In 2020 it received ₩141,145,000 from nine suppliers and omitted it entirely from its information disclosure documents. In 2021 benefits of roughly ₩174,856,000 from one sauce supplier — 22% of annual transaction volume — were reported as 11%. The defective disclosure document stayed registered from April 2021 to October 2023.

On 1 June 2026 the Korea Fair Trade Commission announced sanctions: the store-count ads violated the Fair Labeling and Advertising Act as false or exaggerated advertising, and the disclosure omissions violated the Franchise Business Act as deceptive concealment of material facts. The franchisor received a corrective order and a notification order, plus an administrative surcharge of ₩201 million.