Five Guys sells 15,000 burgers in 1st week in Seoul

Customers wait in line to order at Five Guys in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. (FG Korea)

South Korea’s first Five Guys burger restaurant located in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, sold around 15,000 burgers during its first week, according to FG Korea, a food subsidiary of Hanwha Galleria, Tuesday. On average, Five Guys sold more than 2,000 burgers a day and up to 200 burgers an hour.

Customers from various regions across Korea came to eat at Five Guys, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daejeon, Daegu and Busan, the company said. There were even some that flew to Korea from Japan, which doesn’t have any active Five Guys branches.

“Although it was raining last week due to the rainy season, we had customers doing ‘open runs’ every day,” an FG Korea official said. An "open run" is a Konglish term referring to when customers rush into stores as soon as they open to buy something. FG Korea expects this phenomenon to continue for the foreseeable future.

A cheeseburger served with fries at Five Guys (FG Korea)

Seoul’s Five Guys branch broke the sales record for a new store in the Asia-Pacific region during its first week of operations from June 26 to July 2. It also placed among the top five in sales among all of Five Guys branches, as it placed fourth following branches in Paris, London and Dubai.

Since its opening day, various reviews of Five Guys’ burgers and fries have gone viral on social media. A recent video posted by famous meokbang YouTuber Tzuyang eating at Five Guys has reached up to 2.3 million views as of Tuesday.

According to an FG Korea official, customers who visit Five Guys say that they are satisfied with the burgers’ size and taste for their price. “We’ll make sure to serve food with the best quality to compensate for our long wait times.”

By Lee Jung-joo(lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com)