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Robot fried chicken: entrepreneur seeks to improve South Korea's favourite food
Eaten at everything from tiny family gatherings to a 10-million-viewer live-streamed "mukbang" -- eating broadcast -- by K-pop star Jungkook of BTS fame, fried chicken is deeply embedded in South Korean culture.
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In this photo taken on June 13, 2023, a robot fries chicken as an employee washes dishes at a Robert Chicken restaurant in Seoul. (AFP/Anthony Wallace)
I
n fried-chicken-obsessed South Korea, restaurants serving the nation's favourite fast-food dish dot every street corner. But Kang Ji-young's establishment brings something a little different to the table: a robot is cooking the chicken.
Eaten at everything from tiny family gatherings to a 10-million-viewer live-streamed "mukbang" -- eating broadcast -- by K-pop star Jungkook of BTS fame, fried chicken is deeply embedded in South Korean culture.
Paired with cold lager and known as "chimaek" -- a portmanteau of the Korean words for chicken and beer -- it is a staple of Seoul's famed baseball-watching experience.
The domestic market -- the world's third largest, after the United States and China -- is worth about seven trillion won ($5.3 billion), but labour shortages are starting to bite as South Korea faces a looming demographic disaster due to having the world's lowest birth rate.
Around 54 percent of business owners in the food service sector report problems finding employees, a government survey last year found, with long hours and stressful conditions the likely culprit, according to industry research.
Korean fried chicken is brined and double-fried, which gives it its signature crispy exterior, but the process -- more elaborate than what is typically used by US fast food chains -- creates additional labour and requires extended worker proximity to hot oil.
Enter Kang, a 38-year-old entrepreneur who saw an opportunity to improve the South Korean fried chicken business model -- and the dish itself.
