Tag: buffet

buffet

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An advertisement outside a fast food joint in Seoul on Nov. 25, 2025 [YONHAP]

As inflation makes mincemeat of lunch budgets, workers turn to burgers

As lunch prices in Seoul increasingly climb above 10,000 won ($7), office workers are turning to an unlikely refuge from inflation: hamburgers.

2026.5.14

People eat at the seafood buffet Makino Chaya Black31 Jamsil Lotte Tower branch in southern Seoul in this undated photo. [CHOI HYUN-JU]

Buffets' popularity surges due to high inflation, sluggish domestic consumption

As high inflation persists and domestic consumption remains sluggish, more consumers are turning to buffets, where they can pay a fixed price to eat a variety of foods.

2026.3.9

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A customer helps herself at Shabu Allday on July 24. [WOO JI-WON]

The future of Korean dining is...shabu-shabu?

Buffet restaurants in Korea thrive amid rising dining costs, with shabu-shabu and premium casual chains attracting large crowds.

2025.7.31

Ashley Queens, a buffet restaurant operated by Elandeats [ASHLEY QUEENS]

Customers ditch a la carte for all-you-can-eat buffets

Buffet restaurants have been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, but are now seeing an increase in demand following the easing of social distancing rules.

2022.7.12

Visitors to Korean Folk Village look at performance in Yongin, Gyeonggi on June 9. Yongin city government gives 40 percent discounts on tickets to Korean Folk Village for Yongin residents who have vaccinated. [YONHAP]

Discounts for vaccinated extended to those not vaccinated

Discount programs for the vaccinated continue to be rolled out across the land, with some doing away with all that jazz about actually getting a shot.

2021.6.21

Noraebang (singing room) operator in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, sterilizing facilities on Monday, as the social distancing restriction has been relaxed to Level 1 from Level 2. [YONHAP]

Businesses reopen after months closed

Entertainment and dining establishments closed due to Level 2 social distancing restriction were allowed to reopen Monday following the government's relaxing of restrictions to Level 1.

2020.10.12

A poster introducing a new service by CJ Foodville’s Season’s Table. [CJ FOODVILLE]

Buffet restaurants adapt to pandemic by nixing the buffets

With their popularity in a free fall amid the pandemic, buffet restaurants are now trying to claw their way back to profitability by abandoning buffets.

2020.10.1

CJ Foodville’s Season’s Table in IFC Mall in Yeouido, western Seoul, is temporarily closed amid concerns over the coronavirus. [BAE JUNG-WON]

Buffets, deemed as risky as noraebang, are miffed

Buffet operators are stumped and a bit insulted that their restaurants have been classed together with clubs and bars with table hopping and labeled as high risk locations for coronavirus transmission.

2020.8.24

Disinfection workers head to a Market Kurly distribution center in Songpa District, southern Seoul, Wednesday, after the e-commerce company Kurly announced that an employee there has been infected with Covid-19. [NEWS1]

Coupang, Kurly distribution centers are shut down

A new cluster of coronavirus infections at a distribution center of the e-commerce company Coupang surged to at least 36 patients by Wednesday, with health officials warning of more as contact tracing and Covid-19 testing continues.

2020.5.27