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By Lee Hae-rin
Shin Cheol-woo, a 34-year-old office worker based in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, was planning to have chicken and beer while watching the Korean national football team's first match at the Qatar World Cup against Uruguay, Thursday.
However, an announcement he read on his company's online community bulletin board pressured him to hurry.
"Everybody (on the bulletin board) was saying we should order chicken at least three hours before the match begins (at 10 p.m.)," Shin told The Korea Times before the Korea-Uruguay match, Thursday. One of his coworkers even testified that when he helped out at his parents' chicken restaurant during the World Cup in 2010, he had no choice but to "pull out the phone plug due to flooding orders" and most of the deliveries didn't go out until after the game was over.
Shin said fried chicken is irreplaceable for Korean football fans.
"As a lifetime football fan, I don't remember having anything other than chicken while watching football matches. It's very much Korean culture. It tastes great and goes perfectly with beer, too," Shin said, explaining that he was determined to have chicken on Thursday night. To avoid three hours of waiting, he grabbed a fried chicken bucket from a nearby Homeplus instead of ordering delivery from a franchise restaurant.
Choi Won-june, 27, an office worker based in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, also planned to have chicken and beer with his friends at a nearby pub during the match.
In Choi's words, he has been "home-schooled" to have fried chicken while watching sports. He and his family have often gone to nearby pubs and watched games on big screens, cheering with others at the other tables. Fried chicken is the most commonly served dish in such venues and the food's accessibility led him to the custom of having fried chicken ― at home or in stadiums or pubs ― whenever an important sports event takes place.
For Korean football fans like Shin and Choi, seeking their favorite sports-time snacks for the country's first World Cup match in Qatar on Thursday night, pubs in downtown Seoul in central Jongno District were already busily preparing in the early afternoon for the crowds of football team supporters. As of 2 p.m., several restaurants turned on big screens playing Wednesday's highlights, while servers were busy preparing tables.
Fried chicken is one of the nation's favorite nighttime snacks, but its popularity is even more remarkable during sports seasons. According to major fried chicken franchises, Friday, Team Korea's first match drew a significant increase in sales ranging from 140 percent to 200 percent compared to the prior month.
BHC, one of the country's biggest fried chicken franchises, said its sales increased 200 percent compared to Oct. 24 and increased 130 percent compared to last Thursday.
BBQ, another major fried chicken franchise, said its sales rose by 170 percent compared to the month before, while Kyochon F&B saw increases of 140 percent and 110 percent from the previous month and week, respectively.
On food delivery ordering platforms including Baedal Minjok (Baemin) and Yogiyo, the 10 most-searched-for terms on Thursday evening were fried chicken franchises.
A fried chicken franchise owner in downtown Seoul told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity, Friday, that his restaurant was "bombarded with delivery orders" on Thursday.
"For a brief while, it felt like the good old days before the COVID-19 pandemic," he said, "I'm a little bit worried about next Monday when Team Korea has its match against Ghana. It'll be a lot of work, but I'm glad that business has returned in full swing."
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