People stand in line in front of Korea's first Chipotle outlet in Seocho District, southern Seoul on Sept. 6.KIM MIN-YOUNG
The line outside Chipotle’s Gangnam branch did not look like a line for a burrito. Around 150 people stood in a queue running the length of two city blocks on at 11:20 a.m. Sunday, in temperatures nearing 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The line stretched more than 50 meters (164 feet) to the nearest bus stop.
Chipotle Mexican Grill opened its first restaurant in Korea — actually, its first anywhere in Asia — on Sept. 2 in Seocho District, southern Seoul, in the building next to a Shake Shack run by the same operator.
The 96-seat store began serving around noon that day, to explosive response as demonstrated by long lines. By opening time on Sunday, the queue was around 100 meters, with the line not waning much even after the store's opening.
Waits of two to three hours were routine. One customer described joining the line around 10 a.m. and walking out with a bag at noon.
“I have been standing here for two hours and I would do it again next week,” said office worker Kim Ji-won, who said she had eaten at Chipotle multiple times while studying in New York. “It is also cheaper, so no reason not to wait.”
A chicken burrito or bowl costs 12,800 won ($9.50) at the Gangnam store, with carnitas at 13,800 won and steak or barbacoa at 14,800 won. By comparison, a Chipotle in New York City on Monday sold chicken items at $11.50, carnitas at $12.25, and steak and barbacoa at $13.50, all with tax included.
Converted at that day’s rate of 1,382.27 won to the dollar, the New York prices ran 33 to 37 percent above the Seoul ones. Guacamole is 3,200 won in Gangnam against $3.21, or roughly 4,400 won, in Manhattan.
At the front, a row of plain black umbrellas handed out by the staff kept the first several dozen people in shade while the sun worked over everyone behind them.
Website menu for a Chipotle store on Greenwich Street, Manhattan, New York on Sept. 7SCREEN CAPTURE
The umbrellas were the store’s main concession to the weather. Staff walked stacks of them down the line in the late morning, handing them out to anyone standing in direct sun and collecting them again at the door.
“They came out with the umbrellas maybe twenty minutes after I got in line, and honestly that is the only reason I am still here,” said Choi Hong-jin, who had come from Bundang, Gyeonggi, with a friend. “Without it I would have given up at the corner.”
Gangnam Station draws tourists as well as office workers, and the queue reflected that. Several people waiting on Sunday were foreign residents or visitors.
“It is strange to fly from Mexico and finally eat at a Chipotle in Seoul,” said José Garcia, who is from Mexico but has been living in Korea since 2023. “It opened at home two months ago and I still have not been. My friends are going to find this very funny.”
Chipotle opened its first restaurant in Mexico on July 16 in San Pedro Garza García, in Nuevo León state, part of the Monterrey metropolitan area, a full 33 years after the chain was founded in Denver. The company has said it will add more locations in Nuevo León this year and move into Mexico City in 2027.
People stand in line in front of a Chipotle in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Sept. 6.KIM MIN-YOUNG
The sole steady complaint in the line concerned the app. Advance ordering for pickup ran through the Korean Chipotle app, which was available only on the iPhone App Store, leaving Android users to queue in person for their order.
“The people in front of me ordered on their phones an hour ago and they are probably just here to collect it,” said Park Sang-hoon, a college student who uses a Galaxy phone. “It is a small thing but it decides who waits three hours and who waits 10 minutes.”
The Korean business is run by S&C Restaurant Holdings, a joint venture between Chipotle and Big Bite Company, an affiliate of Sangmidang Holdings. Big Bite brought Shake Shack to Korea in 2016 and has grown it to 37 outlets. The Gangnam store is the first time Chipotle has entered an overseas market through a joint venture, which also holds the Singapore rights.
By early afternoon the far end of the Chipotle line was still forming. Two women near the bus stop read the menu off a phone, settling their order well before they were close enough to need it.
