It's going to be hard eating at restaurants owned by chefs on 'Culinary Class Wars,' reservations are skyrocketing

AKP STAFF

m.entertain.naver.com

The aftermath of Netflix's hit cooking competition show 'Culinary Class Wars' is beyond imagination.

Thanks to 'Culinary Class Wars,' the culinary world is buzzing. After the show aired, the restaurants of the chefs who appeared on the show became trendy eateries, with reservations nearly impossible to get.

Naver and Kakao were quick to create and share a list of restaurants featuring the chefs from 'Culinary Class Wars' and are taking reservations directly. As a result, the chefs’ restaurants have turned into battlegrounds for reservations. If you don't make a reservation quickly, you'll have to wait several months.

According to Naver Datalab and Catch Table, searches related to 'Culinary Class Wars' have skyrocketed. The number of searches for the restaurants of the featured chefs increased by 74 times compared to the previous week, and the number of restaurant saves surged by 1884% during the same period.

Naver searches for “fine dining” alone reached 165,200 in September. This is a 738.5% increase compared to August (19,700), before the show aired, and the numbers are expected to keep rising.

The most notable restaurant is Neo (Chef Choi Kang Rokk, followed by Doryang (Self Made Chef) in second place, Trid (Triple Star) in third, Dippin (Cooking Maniac) in fourth, and Choi Dot (Chef Choi Hyun Suk) in fifth.

Among the underdog chefs, the restaurant with the most increased reservations was Dippin Oksu, led by Chef Yoon Nam No, who appeared as “The Cooking Maniac.” Following closely were Shonino, run by Chef Park Jae Hyun (Camping Man), and Goonmong, by Chef David Lee (Meat Tyrant).

The average reservation increase across the chefs' restaurants was about 148%, with some places seeing an increase as high as 4937.5%.

The chefs at the center of this sensation are joyfully overwhelmed. Triple Star, during a recent meet-up with the TOP8, said, “We've felt the changes firsthand, with more inquiries for reservations and more people coming to visit. We’re even taking photos with all of the customers. It’s tough, but we’re living with a grateful heart.”

Imokase No. 1 added, “Traditional markets are going through a severe downturn, but since appearing on this show, many younger people are coming, and I’m grateful. I feel proud that I’m able to help traditional markets, even just a little. I’m happy.”

Self Made Chef, during a radio appearance, said, “I felt like I didn’t perform as well as I should have, but customers have been supporting me and coming to visit. I was so sorry to keep them waiting that I went out and greeted everyone personally.”

Given the nature of OTT platforms, where new viewers continually join over time, it seems likely that reservations for 'Culinary Class Wars' chefs’ restaurants will remain highly competitive for the foreseeable future.