Five Guys Burgers Arrives in Korea

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is an American fast casual restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Five Guys Burgers and Fries wanted to enter the Korean market. Their major focus area was overcoming issues with supply chains, such as certain countries not wanting to import U.S. beef, as well as overcoming numerous other regulatory hurdles. U.S. Commercial Service (CS) Northern Virginia shared its Franchising Team’s Business Development Resource Guide, featuring South Korea, and reached out to CS Korea colleagues in-country to address numerous market-entry questions. CS Korea corralled all relevant USG agencies, including Agricultural Trade Office, Foreign Agricultural Service, Agricultural Affairs Office, and Animal Plant Health Inspection Service for the company. 

As a result of CS Northern Virginia and CS Korea’s efforts, Five Guys signed a deal to enter the Korean market. This expansion marks Five Guys’ fifth market in Asia after Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Malaysia. The first store was launched in Gangnam with 15 locations set to open in the country during the next five years.

“Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Commercial Service, both in the U.S. and overseas, we were able to navigate through Korea’s complicated regulatory requirements and enter into the Korean market. They were able to assemble an entire team of U.S. Government Embassy experts from various agencies, including the Department of Commerce, Department of State and the Department of Agriculture that were able to address so many of our questions related to supply chain issues, import tariffs, building construction permits, royalties, labeling requirements, ingredients and more.” - Bill Peecher, Vice President of International Operations, Five Guys Holdings