Lotteria

This article is about the fast food chain Lotteria. For the horse racing event, see Gran Premio Lotteria.

Lotteria in Fukuoka, Japan

Lotteria is a chain of fast-food restaurants similar to McDonald's headquartered in Japan, and now with branches in South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It takes its name from its parent company, Lotte. Lotteria opened its first shop in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan in September 1972.

History

The company first established itself on February 1972 in Tokyo, Japan. After that, the company was established in South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. The first restaurant in South Korea opened in Seoul on October 25, 1979, and currently Lotteria in South Korea is more popular than in Japan. As for Taiwan, the first restaurant opened in Taipei in 1986, though the chain withdrew from Taiwan during the 1990s.

Business network

Japan

The first Lotteria outlets opened in Nihonbashi, Ueno, and Yokohama in September 1972.

Lotteria sells hamburgers, cheese burgers, teriyaki burgers, and so on. Their Shrimp burger is popular and is an original burger of Lotteria, first made in 1977.

Lotteria in Japan restructured its management in 2005. It appointed Genichi Tamatsuka, former president of the Fast Retailing Co. (which operates the Uniqlo brand), as its chairman and CEO. The appointment was an outgrowth of a previous contract with Revamp Corp, a business revitalization company.

South Korea

Lotteria in Changnyeong, South Korea

Lotteria in South Korea was founded on October 25, 1979, and was part of an expansion of the Lotte Group that included the founding or acquisition of other food-related divisions, including Lotte Chilsung Beverage, Lotte Samkang, and Lotte Ham & Milk. Lotteria became the number one fast food restaurant, boasting a 45 percent market share in 2001 (compared to 20.1 percent for McDonald's). Lotteria achieved this success in part by introducing lines of Koreanized fast foods including its now signature kimchi burger, and strikes most initial visitors as a Korean version of most Western-style fast food restaurants with some local additions. The imitation, with "cleanness, the bright interior, the Western pop music as an audio background," is designed to create "the impression of a 'small piece of America in the middle of Korea'". This strategy resulted in growth rates of 10 percent in 2006 and 16 percent in 2007; by 2009, Lotteria had 920 outlets.

Business strategies

To attract more customers, Lotteria partnered with KT Corporation and Intel in 2003 to provide Wifi access in its restaurants.

Lotteria has followed the global fast food trend of shifting towards health-conscious foods and remaking its image. In the face of the well being trend, it eliminated trans fats from its French fries. It also introduced healthier menu items, such as the rye bread burger that had only 350 calories. From 2008, perhaps a response to McDonald's strategy to move upmarket, Lotteria began a campaign to change "the image of our stores to create a mood similar to a cafe, geared toward the health-conscious as well as women customers"

In March 2009, Lotteria took full control of the South Korean branch of TGI Fridays. It had previously invested 10 billion won in the chain in 2002.

Menu

Lotteria's menu includes typical fast food items such as burgers, fried chicken, chicken wings, chicken fingers, iced coffee, baked potatoes, yogurt, salads, cheese sticks, but also includes teriyaki, squid rings, and a shaved iced dessert called pat bing soo. Its prime burger is bulgogi burger which is very popular.

Lotteria offers 14 different kinds of burgers for sale: Chun-Cheon Chicken Rib Burger, Cheong-Yang Chilli Pepper Burger, European Frico Cheese Burger, Paprika Bacon Beef Burger, Kimchi Burger, Korean Beef Bulgogi Burger, Burning Squid Burger, Shrimp Burger, Bulgalbi Burger, Bulgogi Burger, Chicken Burger, Cheese Burger, Rib Sandwich, and Teriyaki Burger.

Most burger, fries and soda combinations (known as "sets" or "seteu") cost around 6000 won (approximately $5.50), with a few going for under 5000 won.

However, the menu differs in Vietnam, where burgers, fried chicken, chicken wings and chicken fingers are served but side items like baked potatoes teriyaki, squid rings, and pat bing soo are not available. They do have something similar to a McDonalds Mcflurry called a Tornado. It comes in five flavors, chocolate, cookie, peanut, sprinkles or green tea.

The menu in Chiba Marine Stadium store featured some unique menus related with baseball. Like Bobby Burger and Kim Tae-Kyun Burger. The Kim Tae-Kyun Burger would sold for 50 yen (originally priced 400 yen) for first 52 customers each time when Kim homers in the stadium.

Recycling in South Korea

Waste is separated by category.

The South Korean government required from 2003 a 50 to 100 Won deposit to be levied against all disposable cups used to hold products sold in restaurants to ensure that they are returned to a recycling venue. As such, products (such as drinks and ice cream) to be consumed in the store are served in reusable plastic containers. Or if a customer purchases their product in a disposable cup and pays the deposit, they can have their deposit refunded if they return the empty cup to the counter staff. The recycling law yielded recycling rates for cups of 14 percent in 2003, 22 percent in 2004, and 25 percent in 2005. This law has since been repealed.

The Seoul city government (and increasingly other regional governments have started implementing) requires mandatory garbage sorting with food, recyclables, and general trash to be sorted. So rather than a single garbage bin, a number of specialized receptacles exist (liquids, paper, uneaten food, plastic, and general waste) at all Lotteria restaurants.

In addition to the above mandatory requirements, Lotteria also charges a fee of 50 to 100 Won on bags as is the norm for most western-style stores and other shopping venues in South Korea.

See also

• Lotte

External links

• Lotteria in Japan Japanese, official-website
• Lotteria in South Korea Korean, official-website
• Lotteria in Vietnam Vietnamese, official-website