Regular Restaurants for 'Honbapjok' Are Fast Food Chains

Affordable Prices and Fast Table Turnover Make It Attractive

So-called 'honbapjok' (people who eat alone) most frequently visit fast food restaurants. In contrast, the proportion of people using workplace cafeterias, where many colleagues gather, as a place for eating alone was the lowest.

A citizen is coming out of a fast food restaurant in Seoul holding takeout food. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 27th, the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation surveyed 1,267 adults about 'restaurants where they have dined alone,' and the highest percentage, 18.6%, chose 'fast food restaurants.' Next was 'Korean cuisine specialty restaurants' (14.3%), followed by 'other casual eateries' (12.5%), 'Chinese cuisine specialty restaurants' (12.6%), and 'workplace cafeterias' (10.4%).

Fast food restaurants are considered popular places for honbapjok because they offer an inexpensive and convenient meal. Especially, young people who want to spend time alone during lunch tend to quickly finish their meals at fast food restaurants, where table turnover is relatively fast. On the other hand, the number of respondents who said they use workplace cafeterias, which are usually shared with supervisors and colleagues, as a place to eat alone was the lowest.

When choosing a restaurant for dining alone, the highest percentage of respondents (88.2%) cited 'taste of the food.' This was followed by 'price of the food' (87.8%), 'restaurant hygiene' (76.3%), 'quality of ingredients' (74.7%), and 'proximity' (69.2%) as important factors. Conversely, 'benefits such as discounts and coupons' (58.9%), 'portion size' (58.2%), 'availability of single-person menus' (49.0%), 'menu variety' (47.8%), and 'availability of single-person seating' (40.9%) were considered relatively less important.

An industry insider said, "Fast food restaurants are favored by busy office workers and budget-conscious honbapjok in their 20s," adding, "Recently, many fast food restaurants have evolved by diversifying bread and patty options that customers can choose from, improving not only prices but also the taste and variety of their menus."