
A news show took a look at McRefugees (햄버거 난인), or people who stay the night in 24-hour fast food restaurants. Visitors will buy something to eat or drink, then sleep in the dining room; the 4,000 won you pay for a value meal is less than it'd cost you to stay in a jjimjilbang or a PC room. You can watch the video here, in Korean; article in English from the Korea Times:
``Those who frequent fast-food restaurants probably haven't been on the streets for long. They still look decent and can afford a cup of coffee,'' he said, adding that subway stations, which have long been popular among the homeless, are seen as dangerous and dirty by ``the picky folks.''
The same reasons gave birth to the buzzword ``McRefugee,'' which describes the new homeless generation in Japan and China who've been relying on the world's biggest fast food chain, McDonald's, to provide evening shelter.
Although these patrons have the courtesy to make minimum orders, businesses don't appreciate the shady-looking crowd camping out all night.
``We try to manage and control the growing crowd to help protect our brand image,'' said Chung, who stressed that Lotteria's general rule is to ban customers from using the facility as shelter.
My first thought? Grab a camera and send the pictures to Singapore.

In all seriousness, this phenomenon---unbeknownst to me already widespread in Japan---must be exasperating for restaurant employees and for patrons who actually came to eat. In the US many McDonald's have gone 24 hours in recent years, and in my own experienes dealing with late-night customers I know that would invite many undesirables. Fights, drugs, drunks . . . and that was just in suburban Pittsburgh. But the phenomenon shouldn't be that unfamiliar to Koreans and other Asians. If you're interested, give the book Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia a read. Part of it talks about how Asian cultures localized the fast-food experience to make it their own. Certain demographics would use McDonald's as a gathering place for meetings, or as a place to sit and talk for hours, which runs contrary to how fast-food restaurants are supposed to work. Here is the author, James L. Watson, talking about McDonald's in Hong Kong in a 2003 interview (.pdf file):
The book, Golden Arches East, outlines in detail how McDonald’s has been transformed to fit the local cultural systems it has encountered in East Asia. This is a process that I chooseto call “localization,” which to my mind is a force as transformativeas globalization itself. During the mid–1990s, for instance, highschool students were responsible for transforming many of HongKong’s McDonald restaurants into after-school social clubs. Late every afternoon hundreds of kids descended on their local McDonald’s; groups bought packets of fries and cokes. They packed them-selves into booths, poured the fries out on a tray and enjoyed a communal snack while gossiping and, supposedly, doing their homework. They stayed for approximately two hours, effectively closing down the ordinary business of the restaurant. Adults who were silly enough to arrive during this period were made to feeluncomfortable. The message was clear: “This is our place now, and we don’t want to see any adults while we are here.”
At first the local McDonald’s management tried to make the students eat faster and leave sooner, but they just sat there. Soon, however, management decided that this was an excellent development because it created the image of McDonald’s as a safe, andtherefore family-friendly, institution: No alcohol, no smoking, noprofanity, and most important in a place like Hong Kong, no triad gangsters. Management hired demobilized Gurkha troops, recently retired from the British Army, to stand at the entrance and followany triad tough who tried to infiltrate the restaurant. No one messes with Gurkhas; this was much more effective than hiring off-duty police officers. Local management began to promote their restaurants as after-school clubs, even in their television ads. Business boomed as parents gave their kids extra money to eat in a safeplace.
Meanwhile, during the mid-morning, post-breakfast period (9:30–11:00AM), another demographic group has taken over theirlocal McDonald’s restaurants. Retired people, predominantlyolder women who live alone, sit in clumps eating pancake break-fasts, talking, and reading newspapers provided free by the com-pany. These older people, like the students, are welcomed by McDonald’s managers. In both cases consumers have appropriated corporate property and converted it into public space. There arevery few alternatives in an overcrowded place like Hong Kong. Older people increasingly live on their own and enjoy congregat-ing in elder-friendly settings. McDonald’s has become a welcom-ing substitute for the disappearing parks, temples, and ancestralhalls that once sheltered Hong Kong’s older citizens.
I'll give you three guesses about what the chapter on South Korea entails. You can read parts of it here via Google Books. A couple of interesting excerpts; the first from page 144:
Since its introduction in the ninteenth century, bread has never been incorporated into the standard meal system; instead it is perceived as a snack food. The Korean term for snack is kansik, literally "in-between food." Meat, on the other hand, has always been a highly valued, desirable food, and it is eaten almost exclusively at mealtime. To attract a steady flow of customers who would make substantial purchases, McDonald's had to represent itself as a place where one ate a full meal, as opposed to a snack bar where people spend little money but stay for hours chatting. To the dismay of local management, most Koreans considered McDonald's restaurants to be snack bars . . . To change this perception, the "value meal" was introduced[.]
From page 146, in the section "Negotiating Gender, Space, and Meanings of Fast Foods":
The ratio of male to female customers in a Korean McDonald's is about 3:7. Eating a hamburger in what is perceived primarily as a children's place is not appealing to most grown men. The food-ordering process at fast food restaurants, where people have to order and pay for the food before they sit down and eat it, makes some Korean men feel uncomfortable. In traditional restaurants, customers pay after the meal is eaten, which usually results in everyone's competing to pay for the whole table. Some men told me that they feel awkward and stingy paying for just their own food. Even before the introduction of fast food, women generally felt more comfortable about dividing up the check. Another reason women like McDonald's is that, like most fast food chains and unlike most conventional restaurants, it does not serve alcoholic beverages. An alcohol-free and child-friendly environment is perceived as an appropriate and safe place for women unaccompanied by male family members or friends.
From page 153:
Management personnel I spoke with in Seoul were confident that McDonald's' could overcome the inherent difficulties of operating in such a complex environment. They were convinced that their company's efficiency and capacity to deliver good food at reasonable prices would overcome the anti-American and anti-import sentiments that inhibit business; they expected customers to put aside political concerns and make purely economic, "rational" choices. Consumers are therefore courted as individuals, not as representatives of political faactions or interest groups. Choosing McDonald's hamburgers over local foods, the management argued, should be taken as an economic decision on the part of an individual consumer rather than as symbolic behavior representing an overarching political ideology.
From page 157:
In Korea, even when friends purchase separate packets of fries, they often pour the contents onto a tray and together eat from the resulting pile. This does not, however, create the same powerful sense of commensality as sharing a rice-based meal. One can eat alone in McDonald's and not feel strange; eating in isolation at a Korean-style restaurant, on the other hand, generates feelings of loneliness and self-pity.
Those final excerpts have nothing to do with McRefugees, really, but the chapter is an interesting read nonetheless. In conclusion, Korea is a land of contrasts. Thank you for reading my essay.
14 comments:
They need to put in microscopic sharp spikes in the seats that are designed to start hurting after the 21st minute. That will solve the problem!
I enjoyed reading this article. Thank you for posting it. I wonder how 24 hour McDonalds in the US deal with this. I would imagine panhandling a $4 meal or a $2 cup of coffee and trying to sleep in the place all night wouldnt go over too well.
In the US many McDonald's have gone 24 hours in recent years, and in my own experienes dealing with late-night customers I know that would invite many undesirables.
In Hawaii, it is only the drive-thru that is 24 hours (and I think that's true for most of the other all-night fast-food joints, like Jack's). There may be some places where the restaurant's indoor seating is also open all night, like Waikiki, but there is such a problem with homelessness on Oahu that it wouldn't work well.
I suppose crime might also be an issue in Hawaii, but it's not as big a concern as it is in other US metropolitan areas, including Orange County.
It's an interesting testament to Seoul's (and other Korean metropolises') relative security that they can do this with so few incidents, but at the same time it's also telling that this phenomenon of latching onto all-night establishments is so prevalent.
I used an article on this phenomenon with my adult class this week. The resounding response from the article was why are McDonalds and Lotteria staying open 24 hours anyway, particularly, in regional centres such as Suncheon. My buddy stopped by McDonald's the other night at 10pm and said he was the only customer there. Sure, it's great for convenience, particularly for me - I only live 3 minutes away. But, not even I'm inclined to get a midnight Big Mac - at least not often!
Back home a lot of the fast food joints and kebab shops stay open all night - especially Friday and Saturday nights - more often than not you'll see a fight or two over cutting in line or some such grievance. I feel sorry for the people who have to work in those places at those times, their personal safety often actually is at risk from belligerent drunks. At least here they're just getting a coffee and sleeping by themselves.
Didn't see a lot of McRefugees, if any, at the McDs/Lotterias I saw in Tokyo. Lots of homeless around Shinjuku and Shibuya stations, but they didn't make it as far as the McDs down the street.
I think several of them were sitting in the Denny's, though.
When I worked there at the turn of the century *cough* there was debate at my store about staying open 24 hours. It was a pretty generic location in a pretty generic suburb, so I guess they were following the "if you build it---or leave it open---they will come" model. But usually there was no business between 9 and the 11 o'clock close. Usually one or two transactions per hour, not even enough to cover what they were paying employees. I think my old location ended up going 24 hours, but I'd be surprised if they got any business at all between 12 and 6.
Ben, is the Suncheon McDonald's 24 hours? I guess that I can write "the" Suncheon McDonald's should tell you what kind of demand there'd be.
Kushibo, I don't recall if the lobbies are open 24 hours in the US or just the drive-thrus. I know that even in suburban Pittsburgh you were taking risks leaving the dining room open at night. We had fights, drunks, drugs, and all manner of punk-ass high school kids. Even some robbery attempts, and this was just in your average neighborhood. Also, don't forget, the people that staff these places for the night shifts back home aren't the most desirable employees, either. But when you're talking about late-night, early morning, or even over night shifts, you often can't be choosy about who you hire. We had employees screwing in the break room, passing drugs out the window, walking out on their shifts when it became too stressful. I even had one of my own crew members try to break into the safe. When I recall how hard it was to even get employees to tuck in their goddamn shirts and wear their name tags, I'm very pleased with the pride people take in their jobs over here.
I was really happy when they came out with the breakfast menu in 2006, but the handful of times I've been to McDonald's for breakfast in Korea, the place has been dead. Even the one in downtown Gwangju on a Saturday morning. Hell, I'll bet the Suncheon McDonald's is dead for lunch during the week, too, without students able to go there.
None of this relates directly to the article; just after six years in the McBusiness can't totally forget it.
Kushibo, I don't recall if the lobbies are open 24 hours in the US or just the drive-thrus.
Hawaii is the U.S.! ;)
(Not making fun of your comment so much as I'm making fun of millions and millions of Americans who seem to think that the Mainland and the US are interchangeable terms or, worse, that Hawaii isn't a full-blown part of the country or something.)
Anyway, thanks for the insight on the late-night goings-on at Mickey D's on the Mainland.
Yes, but what happens in Hawaii may or may not be representative of what happens elsewhere in the US.
Yes, but what happens in Hawaii may or may not be representative of what happens elsewhere in the US.
True, that.
I'm starting to think that there is no typical American city. While there are many overriding commonalities and similarities, each of the places I've lived in in the United States (Compton CA, Orange County CA, southern Minnesota, and Las Vegas NV) has been distinct enough that I couldn't call it representative of anything.
I grew up thinking of Orange County as a typical metro area, and I compared Korean cities very harshly to what I thought was a typical American city that I knew in Irvine, but going back to my old neighborhood in Compton and now living in Honolulu, I can see that a lot of places in America ain't all that.
In fact, Honolulu seems to have more in common with Seoul than with most American cities.
Actually, I'd say it's a bit like the less dense parts of Hong Kong or Singapore. It's got the cookie-cutter high-rises, the unkempt dirty streets, the endless sea of concrete structures, the parking structures everywhere, etc., etc. The one big difference with Seoul is that the main thoroughfares in Honolulu are not well maintained (most major streets in Seoul are frequently repaved).
But a few miles away, there's always the beach. :)
Okay, but I'm digressing and getting way off topic. Honolulu — most parts anyway — are relatively crime-free compared to other major US cities (the City and County of Honolulu has the eleventh-largest population of any municipality in the US). There are problems with drugs, particularly meth, but it's generally concentrated in certain areas and there isn't a lot of gun violence.
In other words, if the 24-hour restaurant seating were to be available anywhere, it would make sense to do it here, but as far as I know, the fast-food joints don't.
Denny's does stay open 24 hours, I believe. So does the giant Walmart not far from Waikiki.
I always thought that one main purpose for staying open all night is that it was cheaper and/or more convenient to take deliveries and do maintenance and clean up late at night, so staying open for a trickle of customers was no big deal. From your experience, is that an incorrect assumption in the States? I think it's true for many businesses in Korea, including McD's.
Koreans in Toronto stays for hours at coffee shops, such as Tim Horton's. Most don't buy anything. There is a huge reference library in Toronto, much, much bigger than any in Korea, yet they chose to study in coffee shops. I cannot find any seat at the most busiest intersection in Toronto, because it is riddled with Koreas. Yes, there is a sign saying 20 minute limit, but who cares?
Hi Brian,
Yeah, the McDonald's here recently, perhaps in January, became a 24 hour restaurant - for God knows why? The only time the place is busy is in summer when everyone's only buying the ice cream cones.
Unrelated to McDonald's in Korea, but while in France I stopped by a McDonald's and noticed that they ascribe to the same "slow food" policy as many other places in the country. Granted, it was virtually the same menu and similar wait times for food, but the seats were nicer and they had several large-screen televisions playing an F3 race. I spent about 30 minutes inside to cool off and none of the families that were inside when I arrived left before I did.
Meanwhile, on the subject of undesirables in late-night eating establishments, I know a couple of the McDonald's in Seattle started playing country music very loudly after a certain time. I think it was piped through the outdoor speakers as well, to keep people from loitering outside. Apparently the assumption was that the people most likely to cause a problem late at night would be the same group least likely to enjoy that musical genre. Not sure if it worked to cut down on crime or undesirable behavior, but an interesting experiment all the same.
Maybe they should play Korean music, like Rain--what treat he is
It was pretty bad in Beiji when I was there.
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