[Report] The Future First Encountered by the Food Service Business... 'No Brand Burger' Yeoksam Station Branch

Robot grills hamburger patties and buns and serves
Automation strengthens contactless concept
Reduces labor costs, improves profitability and food hygiene safety
Expands salad and sandwich menus in health-oriented trend

The No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch, featuring a stylish interior, has placed social distancing notices on each table to ensure customers sit 1 meter apart as a COVID-19 prevention measure, and acrylic partitions have been installed for customers sitting face-to-face.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Sunghye] In the era of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), while most domestic dining brands are struggling due to a decrease in offline store customers and minimizing new investments and marketing activities, Shinsegae Food took steps to strengthen its business by opening the signature store of No Brand Burger, Yeoksam Station branch, in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 8th. Chung Yong-jin, Vice Chairman of Shinsegae Group, supported the business by posting a photo of the No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch on his Instagram. Vice Chairman Chung usually visits stores that need strategic promotion and posts about them on Instagram.

On the 11th, I visited the signature store of No Brand Burger, Yeoksam Station branch. Located right at Exit 7 of Yeoksam Station in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a representative office-dense area, the exterior of the Yeoksam Station branch featured a signboard composed of three main colors of No Brand Burger?yellow, white, and black?and windows decorated with stylish illustrations of hamburgers and various side menus, which were enough to catch the eyes of passersby.

After completing temperature checks, hand sanitization, and electronic entry log registration at the store entrance, the No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch welcomed customers with a spacious area of 330㎡ (100 pyeong), befitting its status as a signature store. The layout was notably divided into Pickup Zone A exclusively for takeout and Pickup Zone B for dine-in customers. This structure allowed takeout customers to order at kiosks installed at the entrance and wait without entering deep inside the store, then receive their food from the serving robot at Pickup Zone A.

Three cute yellow serving robots moved about 10 meters from the kitchen to the pickup zones, notifying customers of their order numbers via monitors and voice to ensure no difficulty in picking up their orders. Through the serving robots moving in Pickup Zone A, both customers and employees working in the store could reduce unnecessary contact.

At the No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station Pickup Zone A, serving robots deliver the food, minimizing unnecessary contact.

A Shinsegae Food official said, “We separated the space so that takeout customers who prefer untact (contactless) service, riders who will visit the store when delivery systems are introduced in the future, and customers who want to dine in can each enjoy No Brand Burger in their preferred way.” He added, “The serving robots currently operating in the store express No Brand Burger’s vision that ‘in the future, robots will handle in-store serving and short-distance delivery,’ and we plan to continuously upgrade them through collaboration with specialized companies to further enhance this.”

To eat inside the store, customers had to order via kiosk like at other hamburger brand stores, wait at their seats, and when their order number appeared on the monitor, go to Pickup Zone B to receive their food. However, No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch aroused interest by allowing customers to watch the process of ingredients being prepared at the automatic hamburger ingredient cooking equipment located in the center of the store while waiting for their food.

At the No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch, customers can watch the hamburger buns and patties being cooked at an automatic cooking device installed in the center of the store while waiting for their food.

The automatic cooking equipment, first introduced at No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch after two years of research and development by Shinsegae Food, automatically cooks the core hamburger ingredients?buns and patties?on a rail according to the order sequence and menu type as soon as the kiosk order is placed. Store staff only need to load dozens of buns and patties into the ingredient input ports installed on top of the equipment, and then the ingredients are lowered onto the cooking line and grilled according to digital signals sent from the kiosk. Shinsegae Food explained that through this automatic cooking equipment, buns and patties are grilled with uniform heat and time, ensuring consistently high-quality hamburgers while simultaneously improving labor efficiency and securing food hygiene safety at the Yeoksam Station branch.

A Shinsegae Food official said, “The patty grill among the automatic cooking equipment is a self-developed device that is more than 50% cheaper than similar equipment from other brands, reducing the burden on franchise owners purchasing cooking equipment.” He added, “After sufficient operational testing of the automatic cooking equipment installed at the Yeoksam Station branch, we plan to slim it down so it can be used in smaller stores as well, thereby improving overall labor efficiency and food safety.”

No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch was selling 11 new menu items not seen in existing stores. Especially tailored to the characteristics of the office district where the store is located, three morning menu items?‘Sausage Egg Ciabatta Sandwich,’ ‘Ham Egg Ciabatta Sandwich,’ and ‘Ham Egg Salad Ciabatta Sandwich’?were introduced at prices ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 KRW to provide a simple yet hearty meal during busy mornings. These morning menus, which can be enjoyed with coffee, are expected to be popular among office workers who prefer cost-effectiveness. Additionally, salads and sandwiches, recently gaining popularity among office workers as light meals, were offered at a level comparable to specialty stores, with excellent harmony between vegetables and bread.

At No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch, you can enjoy new menu items such as salads and sandwiches, which have recently gained popularity among office workers, in addition to hamburgers.

No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch was a space where customers could indirectly experience a futuristic dining store imagined in their minds, with menus automatically cooked and robots serving. Especially in the post-COVID-19 era, where unmanned, automated, and standardized operations will accelerate, it was possible to feel the direction No Brand Burger aims for to enhance competitiveness in the dining business. If the concept introduced at the Yeoksam Station branch is gradually advanced and systematized step by step, and customers become accustomed to it, No Brand Burger’s competitiveness is expected to increase further.

A Shinsegae Food official said, “The No Brand Burger Yeoksam Station branch is a signature store implemented to deliver the future-oriented store that No Brand Burger aims for to customers.” He expressed the ambition, “We will further develop the current concept and nurture it as a leading franchise in the hamburger market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.