Premium burger joints favor Seoul for Asian foray due to Korean appetite for fine burgers

Premium burger joints are opening stores back to back in Seoul upon finding young Koreans’ appreciation and picky taste for quality burgers to test the tasting bud of broader Asians.

Super Duper Burgers based in San Francisco is opening its first overseas restaurant in Seoul’s high-end Gangnam district on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Gordon Ramsay Street Burger, a casual version of the premium brand Gordon Ramsay Burger, will also open a joint in Gangnam next year.

Five Guys, one of the three major burger chain brands in North America, plans to advance into the Korean market in the first half of next year.

Korean burger market has been upscaling from popular fast-food chains of McDonald’s and Burger King and homegrown brands like Lotteria, Mom’s Touch, and No Brand Burger.

Gordon Ramsay Burger landed well despite eye-popping menu price of 140,000 won ($98.34) per burger.

Big retailers have turned eager to bring in more premium names who have been eying the Korean market as a replacement for Japan and Hong Kong.

Galleria Department Store under Hanwha Group signed a deal with Five Guys to bring the burger brand in Korea while SPC Group has been expanding casual restaurant chain Shake Shack. SPC, currently operating 23 restaurants in Korea, also bought business rights for Shake Shack in Singapore and Malaysia.

Name value alone cannot win over picky Korean consumers.

America’s Good Stuff Eatery, famous for the “Obama burger,” struggling since opening its first store in Gangnam in May opted to close by Oct. 31. It however put off the shuttering plan.

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