Monthly sales at flagship Auckland store up roughly threefold since opening

Chain to expand into Papua New Guinea after New Zealand and Fiji

The BBQ Queen Street store on Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand. [Genesis BBQ Group]
The BBQ Queen Street store on Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand. [Genesis BBQ Group]

Genesis BBQ Group announced Friday it will open its third New Zealand location in Whangarei, in the northern part of the North Island, by the end of September.

The chain opened two stores in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, in July and October last year, tailoring each location's format and menu to its trade area and customer base. The first, the Queen Street store, sits in the heart of Auckland's Queen Street shopping district and operates across two floors totaling 396 square meters with 80 seats, combining a full-service dining room with takeout. It serves chicken alongside other K-food items and alcoholic beverages. Repeat customers have driven monthly sales to roughly three times the opening-month level.

The Albany store is backed by the Woolworths hypermarket and a Korean and Asian residential community, and caters to a vehicle-oriented lifestyle trade area. It runs as a compact, roughly 59-square-meter outlet focused on takeout and delivery, with a menu built around chicken and everyday K-food options such as tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes).

BBQ plans to accelerate its Oceania expansion, extending its store network from New Zealand and Fiji into Papua New Guinea and other key markets across the region.

"We are broadening our reach in New Zealand by offering store formats and menus suited to each trade area and customer base," a BBQ official said. "We will make sure more local consumers across Oceania can experience K-chicken and K-food."


spa@heraldcorp.com