Comments on: Super Sized Loss

By: dda

dda — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:52:24 +0000

When did TacoBell open [and close]? I seem to remember it was late 80s. By 1990, they had closed already, if memory serves…

By: globalvillageidiot

globalvillageidiot — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 10:43:24 +0000

#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.

By: sean

sean — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 10:30:26 +0000

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.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 06:43:29 +0000

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.

By: globalvillageidiot

globalvillageidiot — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:42:34 +0000

“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!)

By: dokdoforever

dokdoforever — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:19:09 +0000

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?

By: slim

slim — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:31:51 +0000

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

By: oranckay

oranckay — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:39:08 +0000

I remember saving up for a month so I could go there and buy fries shortly after it opened.

By: sewing

sewing — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:59:09 +0000

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).

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:53:14 +0000

Still went in the 90’s and same goes on now with other American restaurant franchises.