A restaurant owner prepares to open for business in Seoul on July 11, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 27 (Korea Bizwire) — With the implementation of the highest Level 4 social distancing restrictions for Seoul metropolitan area resulting in a plunge in night sales, an increasing number of South Korean restaurants are focusing instead on attracting customers during the day.
A franchise Chinese restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul’s financial district, started providing a 10 percent discount for lunch specials from July 12. It also started offering a discount up to 20 percent for takeout customers.
“We’re now at a critical situation where we have to lower prices despite a plunge in revenue. We’re focusing on attracting lunch customers by offering discounts since there are no customers at night,” a restaurant official said.
The number of cases where restaurants focus entirely on daytime business while giving up night sales is not insignificant.
A 27-year-old man surnamed Kim who runs a pork spare rib restaurant in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province started opening his restaurant at noon on July 12.
Previously, he opened the restaurant at 5 p.m. but changed the opening hour to noon since there are almost no customers at night.
Also increasing is the number of restaurants that have started lunch box delivery services targeting office workers who are reluctant leave work for lunch.
“We have much difficulty since this service is very labor intensive and the fees charged by delivery companies are high,” a restaurant manager said.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
