Texas Roadhouse is taking its biggest step yet into the Korean dining mainstream. On April 28, 2026, the American steakhouse chain — operated locally by Hyundai Greenfood, a unit of Hyundai Department Store Group — opens the Texas Roadhouse Jamsil Flagship Store in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, marking the brand’s first ever standalone outlet in Seoul and a deliberate shift away from the outlet-and-mall format that has defined its Korean footprint since 2020.
The new Jamsil store spans 505 square meters (approximately 153 pyeong) with 200 seats, and operates daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. — an hour later than every other Texas Roadhouse location in Korea, which typically close at 9 p.m. Hyundai Greenfood says the longer hours are calibrated to the late-evening rhythm of the Songpa-gu commercial district, one of southeastern Seoul’s densest dining and office zones, anchored by Lotte World Tower and a heavy commuter base.
The opening adds to an existing Korean network that began in 2020 with Texas Roadhouse Hyundai Premium Outlet Space One in Namyangju, followed by stores in Songdo, Gimpo, the Hyundai Department Store Jungdong location, Pangyo, and The Hyundai Daegu — six in total. Jamsil makes seven, and is the first one diners can walk to from the street rather than enter through a department store atrium.
Hyundai Greenfood is bundling the Jamsil opening with three menu introductions designed to differentiate the standalone store from the mall outlets:
An opening promotion gives any guest who spends more than 70,000 won a scratch coupon redeemable for prizes including strip steak, the three new menu items, or beverages.
For a brand that operates roughly 800 restaurants across 11 countries, including the U.S., Mexico, and Taiwan, the choice to graduate from premium outlet locations to a flagship street-facing store is strategic, not cosmetic. Hyundai Greenfood’s Lee Jong-pil, executive managing director and head of the food service business division, framed the move as a deliberate proof point.
“This Jamsil store is our first flagship-format outlet in a prime Seoul commercial district.”
That language matters: it signals Hyundai Greenfood views Jamsil as a testbed for whether Texas Roadhouse can hold its own outside the captive foot traffic of department stores and outlet malls — and, by implication, whether the brand can scale further into Gangnam, Hongdae, or other premium Seoul submarkets without leaning on a host retail anchor.
Texas Roadhouse entered Korea in 2020 through Hyundai Greenfood, an arrangement that placed the brand inside the Hyundai Department Store Group’s tightly controlled retail real estate portfolio. That model gave the chain access to high-traffic, high-spend captive audiences — but capped its visibility to mall shoppers. Six years and six locations later, the data evidently supports a more independent format.
The chain itself was founded in 1993 in Indiana and has built a reputation on its made-from-scratch policy, hand-cut steaks, and a service model that lets diners directly view and select the cut and portion of their steak before cooking — a feature Hyundai Greenfood is again leaning on for the Jamsil launch.
The Jamsil opening lands in the same week parent Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NasdaqGS: TXRH) is signaling a more aggressive international growth posture, with six international Texas Roadhouse restaurants and additional Jaggers domestic units planned for 2026. The Korean experiment also follows the chain’s $5.88 billion 2025 revenue print and franchise-network expansion to five more units.
For franchisees and licensees evaluating Asian and MENA expansion playbooks, two takeaways stand out. First, mature mall-anchor partnerships can be a credible entry strategy in markets with concentrated retail real estate ownership — Korea, Japan, the GCC — but the move from inside-the-mall to street-facing flagship is the real test of unaided brand pull. Second, format-localization (extended hours, locally tuned menu additions, premium-priced LTOs) is increasingly how American casual-dining chains differentiate in Asia, where international competition for premium dining occasions is intensifying. The Jamsil store gives operators a real-time data point on how that translates into traffic and check averages in one of Asia’s most demanding restaurant markets.
Source: Seoul Economic Daily — Texas Roadhouse Opens First Standalone Store in Seoul
