The Hallyu trend took over the hearts of French consumers who are now desperately looking for the new fancy Korean restaurant

Numerous k-restaurants and k-cafés sprouted all over Europe to meet the growing demand for experiencing Korean culture. In France, the K-food market is growing exponentially to the extent that we are seeing people queuing in front of saturated restaurants and coffee shops for hours.

*Bekseju Village Courtesy*

In 2019, France had 189 Korean restaurants and 93 of them were located in Paris only. However, there exists a maximum of approximately ten k-cafés in the capital. A majority of the coffee shops were founded by Korean natives whereas that might not be the case for poor quality restaurants as a lot of people want to surf the wave.

This enthusiasm can be explained by the Hallyu phenomenon.

The past few years have witnessed the rise of Hallyu, which translates into the Korean wave. Hallyu, the korean soft power, includes: movies, series, TV shows, video games, music (Kpop), cosmetics as well as food. In this way, the Korean wave seduces all age brackets. The word is also used to describe the spread of Korean pop culture on the international market. The Korean wave highlights the cultural richness offered by the peninsula, which creates a new way of consuming, especially in France.

*Parasite film poster*

This is evidenced by the fact that the Kpop group BTS hit Billboard number one, the movie Parasite won the César for the best foreign film, the Squid Game series was number one in multiple countries around the world on Netflix or by the fact that Korean cosmetics are now sold on Sephora thanks to the interest of the public.

Social networks such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Netflix played an important role in spreading Hallyu during the Covid-19 episode in 2020. In the years following the pandemic, Hallyu content saw unprecedented popularity which helped to popularize the k-culture.

One can easily find k-food related content: new recipes, trendy snacks in Korea or the new hot coffee shops/restaurants. Thus, more and more people are looking forward to try k-food in France. However, as the demand exceeds the offer, the consumers are not satisfied. This could be a great opportunity to create the new fancy Korean hot spot in Pairs.

Sources

K-Food : comment la gastronomie coréenne a conquis la France (nouvelobs.com)

La K-food à la conquête de Paris (telerama.fr)

Un peu de Corée en France : Korea.net : The official website of the Republic of Korea

Pourquoi la cuisine coréenne est-elle en vogue ? (orange.fr)

CJ CheilJedang seeks to expand K-food territory (koreaherald.com)

Gastronomie coréenne, élément des relations internationales | Cairn.info