“Culinary Class Wars” Chefs Ecstatic with Happiness as Reservations Skyrocket by up to 4937%

Thanks to the show, the restaurant industry is buzzing. The restaurants of chefs who appeared on the show have become more than just popular spots—they are now considered culinary sanctuaries.

Naver and Kakao quickly created lists of restaurants from the show and facilitated reservations. As a result, these chefs’ restaurants have turned into battlegrounds for bookings, with reservations often pushed back by months unless made swiftly.

According to Naver Data Lab and Catch Table, searches related to “Culinary Class Wars” have surged. Searches for the participating chefs’ restaurants increased by 74 times compared to the previous week, and the number of restaurant saves shot up by 1884% over the same period.

Searches for “fine dining” on Naver also exploded, reaching 165,200 in September alone, a 738.5% increase from the 19,700 searches in August before the show aired. This number is expected to grow even further.

The most popular restaurant was Neo (led by Choi Kang-rok), followed by Doryang (Self-Made Chef), Trid (Triple Star), Deepin (Cooking Maniac) and ChoiDot (Choi Hyun-seok).

Among the restaurants run by black spoon chefs, the one that saw the most significant increase in reservations was Deepin Oksu by Chef Yoon Nam-no (Cooking Maniac). Following closely were Shawnino by Chef Park Jae-hyun (Camping Man) and Guunmong by Chef David Lee (Meat Master), all ranking high.

The average reservation increase across all restaurants was around 148%, with the highest reaching an astonishing 4937.5%. The chefs, now at the center of attention, are joyfully overwhelmed by the influx.

With the nature of OTT platforms bringing in a constant flow of new viewers, competition for reservations at these chefs’ restaurants is expected to remain fierce for some time.

Source: Nate