HONG KONG. Food and beverage specialist SSP Hong Kong and Line Friends today inaugurated the airport world’s first Bite&Bite with Line Friends restaurant at Hong Kong International.
Line Friends is a hugely popular set of global character brands created for mobile messenger app Line after the latter’s launch in 2011. Line Corporation is a Japanese subsidiary of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation, Besides its online store, the company has opened physical stores in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo.
Its creators, riding the wave of the app’s burgeoning popularity in Japan (where it was founded and is the most popular messaging platform), extended the Line Friends concept beyond its original sticker characters for mobile messenger use. The brand now features over 5,000 character products and is used in games, cafés, hotels and theme parks.
Eight Line Friends check-in points at the new restaurant feature a range of the most-loved characters: Brown looking into the tarmac; Sally with a chef’s hat; Choco preparing a toasting; Cony ready to serve everyone; Leonard pondering his order; Moon sharing the French fries; and Edward climbing to the top of the column. These animated installations feature throughout the restaurant space together with the world’s first-ever Mega Brown, shown tasting a burger.
Airport Authority Hong Kong and its restaurant partners believe that the new concept, sited immediately post-immigration in the Midfield Concourse, will become a ‘must-visit’ attraction.
Foodie fusion
Eight Line Friends check-points feature in the restaurant together with the world’s first example of character Mega Brown ‘tasting’ a burger.
Bite&Bite with Line Friends’ offers signature Korean-style sauce and condiments with special recipes. The exclusive menu combines two distinct styles, Korean and western, to satisfy the varying tastes of the airport’s diverse customer mix. It provides a variety of delicacies including Brown & Cony pancakes, Bite, Rice Box and Wings & Fries, with ‘Line Friends’ characters infused into the offerings.
The outlet also sells merchandise, such as travel and lifestyle items, stationery, plush dolls and other products. Travel-related merchandise includes blankets, neck pillows, travel storage bags, luggage tags, computer protection cases and more.
[This YouTube video captures the consumer frenzy when Line Friends opened in downtown Hong Kong in 2018. The video has garnered 12,409 views since.]
Instagram Tag: #BITEnBITEwithLINEFRIENDS
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The company also organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards. Last year’s FAB took place on 20-21 June in Helsinki. FAB 2019 will be held in Dallas, Texas, on 26-27 June.
