Hong Seok Cheon Reveals Just How Drastically His Sales Dropped Due To COVID-19

On a recent episode of SBS‘s Flaming Youth, celebrity, Hong Seok Cheon talked about how he started making “lunchboxes of love” and the huge effect COVID-19 had on his business, which has now closed.

Hong Seok Cheon recently shut down his restaurant, which he had up and running for 13 years.

But he revealed that he’s still paying the price.

There’s still time left on the term of my lease. So I still have to pay rent. The rent is ₩9.50 million KRW (about $8,050 USD). It was ₩3.00 million KRW (about $2,540 USD) when I first started, but it kept going up.

— Hong Seok Cheon

For that reason, he decided to make “lunchboxes of love” in his kitchen for the medical professionals who are still battling COVID-19.

Hong Seok Cheon expressed that he didn’t think he would ever get to cook in the kitchen again, and went on to share details of how his business was impacted by COVID-19.

I overcame the financial crises, but I couldn’t overcome COVID-19. Because we can’t go outside. This industry needs people to go out, meet people, and drink, but since none of that was possible anymore, I couldn’t survive.

— Hong Seok Cheon

He even shared details regarding this sales.

Before, I had to make ₩10.0 million KRW (about $8,470 USD) over the weekend to keep the business afloat. But that number turned into ₩35,000 KRW (about $29.70 USD). I got one table and another customer who just got coffee.

— Hong Seok Cheon

Hong Seok Cheon, who was once known as “Wealthy Hong,” shared that he is now “rich with debt” and expressed his regret regarding choosing to open restaurants rather than buying real estate.

I wish I bought real estate instead. But I spent ₩400 million KRW (about $339,000 USD) in another person’s building to do the interior for my restaurant. 18 years later, I’m getting kicked out.

— Hong Seok Cheon