By So any bets on how long before this guy loses money on this investment?:
A Singaporean entrepreneur has opened the first fast food restaurant in North Korea and he is already drawing up expansion plans just months after opening the first shop, AFP reported.
The first branch of “Samtaesong (Three Big Stars)” started operating in May in Pyongyang after Patrick Soh got the first license awarded to a foreign fast food outlet.
Soh, 56, holds the franchise in several Asian countries under the title of “Waffletown,” a relatively obscure brand compared to the likes of McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut.
“There is a potential to develop this business over there,” Soh was quoted as saying. He is bullish on the prospects of fast food in the isolated Stalinist state.
According to AFP, burgers, called “minced beef and bread” in North Korea to mask their American association, are the biggest attraction at the eatery, which also sells fries, crispy Belgian waffles, fried chicken and ― the latest addition ― hotdogs. [Korea Times]
You know what else I am wondering, where does the beef come from?
3:31 am on October 12th, 2009 1
Notice how even when North Koreans are free to do as they choose they still are anti-American. Too many North Korean "experts" are under the delusion that North Koreans yearn for freedom. They are happy just the way things are.
12:08 pm on October 12th, 2009 2
I find this claim of being the first fast food restaurant kind of strange – especially after Choi Won-ho, a South Korean who owns 70+ chicken restaurants in South Korea, opened his first fried chicken restaurant in Pyongyang in Nov. 2007. Not only does he sell chicken and beer, he also delivers. It is to my understanding (my link to Korea Business Cons. is not working so I can’t link it) that he opened a second restaurant about a year ago and that his business is thriving.
11:12 am on October 12th, 2009 3
Hmmm… I'm assuming this is sarcasm?
1:08 pm on October 12th, 2009 4
OK, I'll buy in. Where do the chickens come from?
1:37 pm on October 12th, 2009 5
"OK, I’ll buy in. Where do the chickens come from?"
Eggs…
3:36 pm on October 12th, 2009 6
I know, I was just about to bring that one up.
This reminds me of something.
The first McDonald's that opened in Russia (the one some Americans whimsically claim to have brought down the Iron Curtain (proper noun?)) was opened by McDonald's Canada. The American-Soviet trade relations weren't very good, for obvious reasons, so Canadian politicians and business partners were often used as an intermediary between the two.
3:37 pm on October 12th, 2009 7
I sure hope they aren't from prison farms (for every reason you can imagine).
6:31 pm on October 12th, 2009 8
You know what else I am wondering, where does the beef come from?
Well, for starters you can rule out pigs and goats.
10:57 am on October 13th, 2009 9
"And where do the eggs come from?"