The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
McDonald's Korea's region-named menu sold 24 million local-ingredient items
The burger chain bet on Korea's farm-shrinking crisis: menu items named after the region that grew the star ingredient — and the buyers came for both.
McDonald's Korea · Leo Burnett Korea
The solution
McDonald's Korea confronted a double problem: consumers still viewed the chain as a foreign interloper, and the small farming towns that once anchored Korea's food supply were shrinking — fields going fallow, farmers nearing retirement. The response had to be systemic, not a seasonal PR stunt.
Starting in 2022, the Taste of Korea program rebuilt both the menu and the purchasing. Each limited-time burger featured a hero ingredient sourced via local cooperatives — Iksan sweet potatoes (200 tonnes), Changnyeong garlic, Jindo green onions, Boseong tea — and carried the region's name. McDonald's coordinated with farming cooperatives, helped with transport infrastructure, and turned one Jinju outlet into a tribute to local pepper farmers.
The numbers were measured, not waved at: 24 million Taste of Korea items sold, including 13 million burgers, with the Changnyeong garlic burger topping 5.3 million units. The line outperformed other limited-time menus by roughly 30%, and one partnership helped onion farmers reach markets they'd never sold into — earning McDonald's Korea a Prime Minister's Award.
An independent assessment put the campaign's social and economic value at 61.7 billion won (~$44.4 million) over four years, including 4.49 billion won in added farmer income.
Why it worked
- Koreans' proven willingness to pay more for domestic produce removed the price objection — McDonald's just had to make local ownership real and legible.
- Naming the product after the region made rural economic development the marketing message, so store-level and government support followed the food instead of an ask.
- Direct cooperative partnerships and transport infrastructure removed the operational excuse for buying global commodity ingredients.
- Each regional burger was a repeatable launch machine — new region, new story, same system — which is why the line sustained four years of momentum.
What can be applied
When consumers already prefer local produce, the brand isn't the barrier — the supply chain is; rebuild procurement around named regions and the story sells itself.
Aftermath
The Taste of Korea line grew into a durable platform rather than a one-off: by 2025 a single Iksan sweet potato mozzarella burger sold 2.4 million units in its first month, and McDonald's Korea was publicly credited with reviving regional agriculture. The government measured the program's regional brand value at 56.7 billion won, and the model became a case study for global chains trying to pass the 'local' test in Asia.
Sources
- McDonald's Korea 'Taste of Korea' campaign creates W61.7b in social value
- McDonald's Korea turned local farming into a fast-food growth strategy
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