Japanese-themed budget bar boom amid thirst for cheap drinks, izakaya ambiance

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Japanese-themed budget bar boom amid thirst for cheap drinks, izakaya ambiance

Published: 03 Oct. 2024, 15:15 Updated: 03 Oct. 2024, 15:38

KIM JU-YEON
kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr

Customers wait to enter the Hongdae branch of Torikizoku, a budget Japanese chain, in this photo posted by X user @asherPdc. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Japanese -- or, Japan-themed -- restaurant chains like Torikizoku and Saeng Macha are taking Seoul by storm as their relatively cheap drinks, uniform prices and replication of bustling izakaya (Japanese drinking establishments) lure in diners looking for a culinary exchange on a budget.

Torikizoku, an Osaka-based restaurant chain that offers a wide selection of meat skewers all priced at 4,900 won ($4), opened its first Korean branch in Hongdae, western Seoul, on Sept. 28 to long lines.

Users on X, formerly Twitter, talked of an "opening rush," with one user saying they waited two and a half hours to get in, while another said "lines were long even from 4 p.m."

"Torikizoku Korea's first store opened in Hongdae today," one user wrote. "Today's reservations were already full, and the on-site waiting was crazy, so I just searched for flights to Japan. It would be faster to go to Gimpo Airport immediately, take a direct flight to Osaka, and eat at Torikizoku in Osaka."

Restaurant chain Saeng Macha sells chicken wings at 900 won (70 cents) and beer at 1,900 won. [TRENDCHISE]

Izakaya-themed Saeng Macha, meanwhile, catches customers' eyes with its 900 won chicken wings and 1,900 won tap beers. The Korean chain has opened 174 branches as of September, around nine months since it first launched in December last year. Similarly, Ssosijiyo, another domestic franchise selling 1,900 won beers, opened its 100th branch in May, four months after it entered the market in January.

The chains aren't the first to venture into the cheap beer market, with franchises like Bonggu Beer and Halmaek also dotting Seoul's streets. But the recent surge of izakaya-themed budget chains and their rapid expansion indicate a wider willingness from the younger generation to welcome Japanese culture—and vice versa, with Japan's younger locals also embracing Korean brands, according to analysts.

Korea and Japan's relationship is unlikely to sour as before, Lee Ji-pyeong, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told the Korea Economic Daily.

Much like Korea, the younger generation in Japan also looks for price-efficient dining experiences, making it easier for Korean franchises to enter the Japanese market, he said, adding that consumer goods companies will actively enter each other's markets for the time being.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]