Crowd-favorite burger chain Shake Shack has come under fire due to the accusation of cultural appropriation for its loose interpretation of a limited-time “Korean-style” menu of chicken sandwiches
The menu came out nationwide one week ago and features a sandwich with gochujang-glazed fried chicken and a white kimchi slaw; nuggets and fries served with a gochujang sauce, and black sugar vanilla shake. Shortly after the reveal, some people criticized the company online for appearing to engage in cultural appropriation. Other social media users argued that adding items like kimchi and a gochujang sauce to a couple of menu items and labeling it “Korean-style” fried chicken was a lazy interpretation of the beloved food. Others encouraged diners to visit local Korean restaurants in their neighborhoods instead.
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Kwiatkowski and Kwon both noted that it was nice to see the chain partnering with a small, family-owned shop to source the kimchi, but were disappointed to see that the hip, NYC-based chain which often engages in buzzy chef collaborations did not choose to partner with a Korean restaurant or a Korean chef to help launch the menu in the U.S.
In response to the criticisms of cultural appropriation levied online, Rosati says that he could “definitely see how someone might think this here” with the new menu launch. “I can understand to a point but I can never fully understand it, because it’s not my culture,” Rosati says. “It’s something that we want to listen to, and understand.”
When the sandwich appeared at Shake Shack’s South Korea locations, the item was labeled as a “Gochujang Chick’n Sandwich,” attaching a straightforward title to the menu item. In the U.S., the nuggets and fries included in the new menu are labeled as “Korean Gochujang Chick’n Bites” and “Korean Gochujang Fries,” while the sandwich appears on menu boards as a “Korean-style Fried Chick’n.”
That broad, flattening name of the sandwich, employed as a catch-all term lacking nuance or context, missed the mark, says NYC Korean restaurant owner Bobby Yoon.
Shake Shack’s Rosati says that moving forward, the team is “listening” to responses to the menu items, but they’re not implementing any changes based on what they’ve heard so far. “We call it ‘Korean-style’ because it’s our take on a traditional Korean fried chicken sandwich, and is a slight variation to the one served in our South Korea Shacks,” he says.
The company purposefully used “Korean-style” and “Korean-inspired” in all of the marketing for the launch in order to signify that the sandwich was not actually an example of Korean fried chicken, Rosati says, which is generally twice-fried and dressed with a range of sauces and toppings. “It’s such a broad category,” Rosati says. “For us, it’s important to say, this is a variation of it. This is something that we draw inspiration from. This is not definitive Korean fried chicken.”
This particular launch marks the first time that Shake Shack has taken a menu item that has performed well at one of its international locations and reinterpreted it for a nationwide rollout in the U.S., according to the company. The sandwich has been a work in progress for the past five years, Rosati says, and it debuted at Shake Shacks in South Korea late last year. The recipe was developed in collaboration with SPC Group.