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| A customer exits a Burger King restaurant in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kim Jae-heun
A 35-year-old office worker surnamed Jang in Seoul was surprised to find out the price of his favorite burger, the Whopper, reached nearly 7,000 won ($5.30). He said it feels like each time he visits local fast-food restaurants, he pays more than he did the previous visit.
"I just read a news article that Burger King is raising their burger prices again. If I am not mistaken, they already increased the price several times last year. I cannot agree on their price policy to raise prices this often and keep saying the company is affected by the soaring costs of raw ingredients and logistics," Jang said.
Another 28-year-old office worker surnamed Lee said he will not visit Burger King for a while, pointing out that there are many better options now.
"Burger King's hamburger prices are about the same as those of Shake Shack now. If you ask people which brand's burger they would choose between the two, many will say Shake Shack. The latter is more premium. Even McDonald's Big Mac is 5,000 won. Why would you pay 2,000 won more for the same fast-food hamburger?" Lee said.
Burger King said it will raise the prices of 32 hamburgers and 47 other menu items and beverages by an average of 2 percent on Friday. The fast-food restaurant franchise decided on the first price hike in eight months after the previous time last July.
The price of its most popular Whopper burger alone increased from 6,900 won to 7,100 won. Considering that the Whopper was 6,100 won in January 2022, its price rose by 1,000 won in only a year. Adding French fries and a beverage to a burger order will also set a customer back around 10,000 won.
"Due to the continued rise in costs of raw ingredients and logistics, we have inevitably increased our menu prices. However, we minimized the price hike to reduce the burden on our customers," a Burger King official said.
Burger King is not the only franchise that has increased its prices recently.
Mom's Touch and McDonald's Korea raised their prices by 5.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, in March and February.
