Korean Food Hall Coming To Times Square In 2020

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A new food hall will open in Times Square next year dedicated solely to Korean cuisine in an effort to spread Midtown's K-Town neighborhood to the popular tourist destination.

K-Food Gallery is expected to open in 2020 on the ground floor of 218 W. 40th St. — a 12-story office building between Seventh and Eighth avenues — in a 22,927-square-foot space that can accommodate more than 200 customers, a spokesperson for the hospitality company GROUP KFF, INC. said. The company is behind other Korean restaurants such as Dons Bogam Original and Jongro BBQ.

Sixteen food and dessert brands that originated in Korea will be given space in the new food hall. The venue will also feature a massive, street-facing LED glass exterior wall that will display a rotating selection of graphics designed to entice pedestrians. K-Food Gallery is full embracing new technologies by implementing a kiosk-based ordering system that allows customers to have food delivered straight to their tables by using GPS signals from diners' smartphones.

GROUP KFF, INC. has invested $6 million into the new food hall, with half of that money dedicated solely to the interior design.

"With the visually rich interior, adoption of the latest technology and premium atmosphere, K-Food Gallery stands apart from other food halls in New York City and is expected to extend Koreatown on 32nd Street to Times Square," GROUP KFF, INC. said in a statement.

The hospitality company plans to open K-Food Gallery in New York City and then eventually expand the concept to 30 other cities in the United States, including places "lacking an ethnic Korean enclave," a spokesperson for the company said.