By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Family restaurant chains such as T.G.I Friday's and the Outback Steakhouse saw their sales grow 10 times over the past 10 years.
The sales of eight major family restaurant chains are expected to reach 900 billion won this year, up from 788.5 billion won last year and 88.8 billion won in 1997.
The eight major chains operating in the domestic market include Bennigan's, VIPS, TonyRoma's, Marche, Sizzler and Kahunaville.
Their sales have continued to increase on a yearly basis _ 173.8 billion won in 2000, 326.8 billion won in 2002, 480 billion won in 2004 and 630.9 billion won in 2005.
Family restaurants were introduced into Korea when T.G.I. Friday's opened its first branch in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul, in 1992.
The Outback Steakhouse and VIPS are vying for the No. 1 spot, each recording about 240-250 billion won in sales last year. T.G.I. Friday's and Bennigan's ranked third and fourth with sales of 130 billion and 100 billion won, respectively.
The Outback Steakhouse opened 20 new outlets last year, increasing the number of its restaurants to 90.
After pushing for opening stores in Seoul and major cities including Pusan over the past several years, the restaurant chain has shifted its focus to smaller regional cities including Wonju, Kangwon Province.
T.G.I. Friday's has recently opened eight new branches in bigger cities such as Pusan, Taegu and Changwon and remodeled its store in Nonhyon-dong, southern Seoul, which opened in 1994.
With their active marketing, the number of branches of the eight companies reached 262 in 2006, compared with 27 in 1997.
Other franchises including Hooters, a pub and restaurant in which sexy waitresses serve food and drink, and Bono Bone, a family restaurant chain specializing in seafood, are also attracting large numbers of customers.
Riding on the popularity of family chain restaurants in Korea, Black Angus Steakhouse from the United States plans to increase its branches nationwide after making inroads into the domestic market in 2005.