Ashley Queens Releases First Half "Queens Report"
"250 Tons of Strawberries Consumed During Strawberry Season"
"22 Million Pieces of Whole Chicken Sold"
While the entire restaurant industry is experiencing a downturn due to high inflation and a sluggish domestic market, Ashley Queens buffet, operated by E-Land Eats, is enjoying a boom on its own. This appears to be driven by increased demand from consumers who want to enjoy a variety of foods at once as dining-out prices rise. Notably, there was even a customer who visited 119 times in just the first half of this year.
On July 7, E-Land Eats, which operates Ashley Queens, released the "Queens Report," an analysis of customer data from the first half of the year. According to the report, the Jamsil Lotte Castle location had the highest number of visitors, attracting more than 200,000 people in the first half alone. That is enough to fill the Jamsil Main Stadium more than three times. One customer visited Ashley Queens 119 times during the first half, which averages to about twice every three days.
During the strawberry season in the first half of the year, 250 tons of strawberries were consumed?an amount that would require over 250,000 pyeong of strawberry farms. More than 2.7 million customers visited during the roughly 40-day strawberry season alone. For the signature menu items, 22 million pieces of "whole chicken" and 6.2 million pieces of "smoked pork ribs" were consumed in the first half. If the pork ribs, each with a 3 cm bone, were stacked, the total height would be equivalent to about 562 Eiffel Towers.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Ashley Queens locations had dropped to 59 as of 2022, but thanks to the recent recovery in buffet demand, it has now increased to 112. The main reason for its popularity is "value for money." Customers can enjoy more than 100 dishes for less than 20,000 won at weekday lunch, earning high marks for cost-effectiveness. Currently, Ashley Queens' adult pricing is as follows: 19,900 won for weekday lunch, 25,900 won for dinner, and 27,900 won for weekends and holidays.
The fact that the menu changes with every visit is also a factor that increases the revisit rate. This year, Ashley Queens has revamped its menu four times: during the strawberry season in February, the chicken season in April, the cheese season in May, and Cheese Season 2 in June. Including the addition of slow-aging menu items to the salad bar at the end of April, regardless of the seasonal revamp, there have been five menu changes up to June.
The success of Ashley Queens has also led to improved performance for its operator, E-Land Eats. Last year, E-Land Eats recorded sales of 470.6 billion won and operating profit of 31.9 billion won, representing year-on-year increases of 32.4% and 79.8%, respectively. A representative of Ashley Queens stated, "Thanks to the love and support from so many customers in the first half of the year, we were able to introduce menus that reflect a wider range of trends," adding, "In the second half of the year, we plan to open stores in more regions nationwide to deliver the value of Ashley Queens to even more customers across the country."
Meanwhile, the buffet restaurant market is expected to grow even larger in the future. According to Euromonitor, the buffet restaurant market size was estimated at around 400 billion won in 2020, during the height of COVID-19, but surpassed 890 billion won in 2023 and 930 billion won in 2024. At the current pace, the industry expects the market to exceed 1 trillion won this year.
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