Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bossface]

here's my new theory:

while i don't particularly care for Caffe Bene as an institution, its massive growth over the last year or two has created something of a paradigm shift, or at the very least a Cohiba's Rule for the contemporary age.

while Seoul still clearly rules, Cohiba's simple Fun For Foreigners math no longer applies. as a foreigner, one could lead a far more productive and interesting life in the better parts of Busan, Daegu, and other places than one could in, say, Guro-gu.

the Caffe Bene factor is this: any decent place to live in greater Seoul is within 1 km of a Caffe Bene. Any decent place to live in the provinces is within 2 km of a Caffe Bene.

i've never lived in the provinces (ie, not Seoul, Gyeonggi, or Incheon) so my math could be slightly off there, but I can say almost certainly that if you live in metro Seoul and a Caffe Bene is not within easy walking distance, then you live somewhere lame.

n00bs, when you are talking to your recruiters, your first question about housing should be what you future apartment's proximity to Caffe Bene is.

[maladict23]

PMSL

[marsavalanche]

smh at this thread

[LL Moonmanhead]

Takes me one minute to walk to a Cafe Bene from my apartment!

Yeah for me!

[eamo]

My neighborhood, one small city block, now has no less than 5 independent gourmet coffee shops who even freshly roast their own coffee beans in-store...........not including the usual rash of Cafe Bene, Hollys, Gloria Jeans, Cafe Pascucci, Cafe De Chocolate etc.

There seriously must be 12 coffee shops in one small block. They outnumber any other business by about a factor of four.

Either Koreans are seriously embracing cafe culture or about 10 coffee shop owners have done really bad market research.

[oldtactics]

So, basically your advice is "Move to a city."

[Steelrails]

Why anyone bothers to listen to a rule from a guy who had a porn star as his avatar, and an ugly one at that, is beyond me.

[marsavalanche]

fail

[happiness]

nah, its the everybody does it together mentality.

i remember i lived on a dinky little back street and there was like 4/5 hair salons there. it was a small street. ive been told that alot of K-s think coffee is a good way to make good money. well it is, but not on a street with everyone else!

are these coffee shops relly that different. dont they all shop at costco to get that American stuff?

location location location. that is all

[cheolsu]

[PigeonFart]

I haven't noticed any coffee shops of any kind, while walking around Seoul.

[nstick13]

The rule is pretty accurate. People who frequent coffee shops have high disposable income, and probably do better than average, meaning if you live within 1 KM of a Caf� Benne in Seoul (now the biggest chain in Korea) or 2 KM in the provinces, you live in a relatively well-to-do area, which is probably nice and likely has other cultural things.

Keen observation.

[Lazio]

[SeoulNate]

In my apartment building there are 5 coffee shops. 3 independent shops and 2 big chains.

There seriously cant be a market for all these coffee shops.

[jdog2050]