Illustration: AI
South Korean chain Mom’s Touch plans to open at least 50 restaurants in Kazakhstan over ten years with the Shin-Line group (kursiv.media). The first restaurant is scheduled to open in the first half of 2027.
What happened
Mom’s Touch has signed a master franchise agreement with Mom’s Touch Central Asia LLP, the restaurant subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Shin-Line. The company announced the agreement on October 26.
The agreement covers Kazakhstan and neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. The plan to open at least 50 restaurants over the next decade, however, applies specifically to Kazakhstan.
What this means
The planned menu includes the chain’s signature chicken burgers made with whole chicken thigh fillets. Mom’s Touch also intends to offer fried chicken and pizza.
The chain plans to open restaurants in major cities across the country, including Astana. The company sees Kazakhstan as a future key base for its operations in Central Asia. Mom’s Touch entered Uzbekistan through a franchise in 2025.
Who will develop the chain
The local partner will be Shin-Line, which produces food and operates a logistics network spanning 11 countries. The group has 16 branches and works with 100 distributors. Its products are available at around 130 thousand retail outlets.
Shin-Line produced 37 thousand tonnes of products in 2025. Exports accounted for 40% of output, or around 15 thousand tonnes. That means roughly four out of every ten tonnes produced were shipped abroad.
Export destinations include China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Products are also shipped to Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
How Shin-Line works with Korean brands
Shin-Line is already expanding another South Korean brand in Kazakhstan: the CU convenience store chain. The group began working with CU in 2024. The chain now has more than 70 stores, mainly in Almaty.
The group also produces several categories of food. Shin-Line has been making frozen ready-to-cook products since 2009 and instant noodles since 2012.
The next planned step for the Mom’s Touch project is to open its first restaurant in Kazakhstan in the first half of 2027.
