Super Sized Loss

by Robert Koehler on July 20, 2007

A piece of Korean modern history passes — the Apgujeong branch of McDonald’s is closing its doors. The Apgujeong shop was Korea’s first Miccie Dee’s, opening ahead of the Seoul Olympics in March 1988.

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

1 dogbertt July 20, 2007 at 7:12 pm: So what’s going in that space:

1. Starbucks; or

2. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf?
2 SomeguyinKorea July 20, 2007 at 10:57 pm: #1

LOL…no.

…a Lotteria.

LOL
3 slim July 21, 2007 at 12:32 am: I remember that grand opening. I don’t recall protests (there was a lot of struggle over the import of potatoes for the fries, I believe) but my strongest impression was how pricey McD’s was at that time (something like 6,000 won for a meal back when today’s 6,000-won Korean lunch cost 1,500 and $1 = 800 won) and how odd it was to see the Golden Arches treated as some kind of luxury experience.
4 SomeguyinKorea July 21, 2007 at 1:53 am: Still went in the 90′s and same goes on now with other American restaurant franchises.
5 sewing July 21, 2007 at 1:59 am: Hey, I ate there once! It was a bitterly cold night in the middle of winter a few years ago…about midnight smackdab in the middle of a 강추이 (gangchui) cold snap. We couldn’t get a cab to get over to Songpagu—it wasn’t because I was white, as they did slow down just enough to hear where we wanted to go and speed away! —but we eventually had to call my wife’s brother-in-law to pick us up, and waited it out to the McDonald’s. I thought it was just another McDonald’s, but once inside, I realized we were dining in a historic landmark! Wasn’t there some kind of relief map of the globe on an inside wall there? That was kind of neat (if I’m recalling it correctly).

Slim: Sounds like you’re an Old Korea Hand(TM).
6 oranckay July 21, 2007 at 2:39 am: I remember saving up for a month so I could go there and buy fries shortly after it opened.
7 slim July 21, 2007 at 3:31 am: I’ve had periods of ROK residence in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, but am an ex-expat now. I planned to stay 8 years, but my lawyer got it down to five. ;-D
8 dokdoforever July 21, 2007 at 6:19 am: Does anyone recall why it took McD’s that long to open a store in Korea? Did restrictive foreign investment rules block Mc Donald’s from coming here? Hard to believe that McDonald’s just discovered Korea in 1988. What was Korea’s first western fast food chain?
9 globalvillageidiot July 21, 2007 at 10:42 am: “What was Korea’s first western fast food chain?”

I would guess KFC. I think they arrived two or three years before McDonald’s, maybe in ’85 or ’86. Lotteria arrived prior to that, but they came from Japan. Also, having had the misfortune of eating there a couple of times, I would be very hesitant to consider them a western fast food chain. (However, their IMF Burger – spam on a bun – was a chuckle!)
10 Brendon Carr July 21, 2007 at 3:43 pm: Wendy’s was here in Korea pretty early too. And that franchisee was absolutely not fit to run a Wendy’s, where the food is generally pretty good. The Korean Wendy’s were horrid. And they all went under in 1998.
11 sean July 21, 2007 at 7:30 pm: Brendon and other interested posters – at http://www.wright.edu/~tdung/wendy_korea.htm there’s a great 1998 WSJ article on Wendy’s experience in Korea and its “undercapitalized” franchisee.
12 globalvillageidiot July 21, 2007 at 7:43 pm: #11.

Interesting read. I think the location mentioned at the beginning of the article was right by the Westin Chosun Hotel. Looks like Wendy’s did get here around a year ahead of KFC.
13 dda July 22, 2007 at 7:52 pm: When did TacoBell open [and close]? I seem to remember it was late 80s. By 1990, they had closed already, if memory serves…